Love Is Never Silent
by GamingMistress
Summary: Cloud has disappeared, leaving a broken hearted Tifa behind him. Rude does his best to comfort Tifa, much to the displeasure of Reno and the others. TifaXRude fic. This story takes place after the game and after the movie.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"I'm not going to be the one that tells her! You know how she feels about him!"

"Someone has to tell her!"

"Well it's not gonna be me!" Yuffie said, looking at Barret and crossing her arms.

Barret sighed, rubbing the back of his head with his human arm. "Well how about this, I found some good materia the other day."

Yuffie looked up at him and perked up instantly. "R-Really?"

Barret pulled it out and looked it over, "Yeah, it's a pretty rare one too. Found it at the oil site the other day."

Yuffie grabbed it and looked it over, unhidden admiration in her eyes.

"Yeah, it's too bad you aren't going to talk to her though, I would have given it to you." Barret reached for it back as Yuffie glared at him and held it tightly to her chest.

"No way! This is my materia! You aren't going to get it back!"

Barret grinned, knowing he had her trapped in a corner. "No, you only get it if you talk to her."

Yuffie looked at the materia, then back at Barret, then at the material again. She then glared at him, "This is blackmail! Blackmail!"

Barret laughed hitting her on the shoulder, "Yeah, but it works every time. So are you going to do this Yuffie?"

Yuffie nodded, "But only if you give me any more materia that you happen to find for the next two years!"

Barret nodded, "Yeah sure, whatever you want Yuffie." Barret sighed to himself, knowing that he had dodged a bullet in this situation.

* * *

Tifa stood at the bar, humming to herself as she cleaned up after some customers. She thought about closing up early today, it was going to be a very special day. Marlene kept running over to the window and peeking out. The door opened and both girls looked over at the door eagerly. In walked Yuffie, Barret and Cid.

"Papa!" Marlene ran over to him and hugged him. Barret smiled at her and picked her up, putting her on his shoulder.

"Say Marlene what do you say about going to the market with me and picking out something for us to have for dinner tonight?"

She nods eagerly, "Yeah! We should make something extra special tonight for Cloud when he gets back!"

"I need to talk to you about something while we're shopping Marlene." Barret said as he walked outside with Marlene on his shoulder and closed the door behind them.

Tifa grinned at her two friends, "What'd you like today Cid? Your usual?"

He nodded, "Better make me a bunch of 'em!" Yuffie looked at him, eyebrow raised. Cid sighed, "Fine, just make me like 3 or 4 of them. And they better be big ones!"

Tifa laughed and looked over at Yuffie, pulling out a glass for Cid. "What'll you have Yuffie? We're gonna close early tonight cause Cloud is coming home you two are welcome to stay for dinner too! We're gonna have a big party." She smiled brightly as she fixed Cid's drink.

Yuffie sighed a little, running her hand over her materia. "That's a nice materia Yuffie." Yuffie held it close to her, possessively. "It's mine! You aren't getting it Tifa!"

Tifa laughed, handing Cid his drink. "So how've you been Cid?"

"I ain't saying nothing til I've had this drink!" He said as he chugged it. He then handed Tifa his glass and said, "Fill 'er up!"

"Cid! You know what happens when you have a lot of those."

Cid glared at her, "Look here ninja otaku, you said I could have as many of these as I wanted if I came here with you to break the news to Tifa!"

Tifa gave him a new drink and looked at him questioningly, "Tell me what Cid?"

Cid just sighed and took another big glared at him, annoyed.

"What's going on?"

Yuffie sighed, her hand running over her materia again. "Well you see it's a long story."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

"Yeah, it turns out Cloud's gone missing." Reno said as he and Rude walked into ShinRa's temporary headquarters. "Apparently he was trying to find a way to talk to that weird flower selling girl of his, the one that we were after. Rumor has it he was trying to find a way into the Lifestream again. Anyway, he's been missing for a few weeks now. And that chick with a huge chest-"

"Tifa." Rude said, glaring at him under his sunglasses.

"Yeah that one, the one you have a crush on. Well it turns out she's been really depressed lately. The bar that she runs, is pretty much going under. She may have a nice chest but she doesn't know anything about running a business."

Rude knocked him over as he quickly walked past him.

"Oww! That hurt Rude! Oi! Where are you going, man?" Reno sighed, running one hand through his hair. "Man. This stinks. I don't wanna follow him but if I go in without him I'm gonna get an earful from everyone." He sighed annoyed again and rubbed his head. "Geez. Rude! Wait for me, yo!" He called, walking after him.

* * *

Tifa sat by the bar, head resting on the table and a glass in her hand, a half full bottle sitting next to her. She kept sighing and looking at the door.

"Papa, what's wrong with Tifa? She's been sitting there for a few weeks now."

"She's just missing Cloud right now. He's her oldest friend. It's just how she's coping right now."

"I know how Tifa feels. I miss Cloud too. Where is he? And why hasn't he come back?" Marlene said, eyes watering.

Barret gave her a hug and sighed. "Come on Marlene. Let's figure out what we're doing for lunch."

Tifa heard them walk out and sighed again. "Cloud where are you? Please come home..." She whispered as she heard the door open again. She lifted her head up a fraction of an inch, and then sighed as she saw who it was.

* * *

"Man this place is a dump. What have you been doing in here?" Reno asked, looking around as he found a somewhat clean table and sat down.

"Go away Reeennnnoooo..." She moaned half heartedly.

Rude stood watching her, straightening his tie nervously.

"Come on! I want a drink! This is still a bar right? Now give me a drink!"

Tifa sighed as she slowly stood up and walked behind the counter and filled two drinks with a random liquid. She then stumbled over to them as Rude gently grabbed her to stop her from falling. Tifa looked at him annoyed. "I can walk you know! I'm perfectly capable of walking by myself!"

Rude let her go as fast as he could, the smallest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

She placed the tray down on the table annoyed. "Here are your drinks. Drink them as fast as you can and get out. In case you forgot in the past few seconds, the door is over there." She said gesturing to the door.

Reno picked up his drink and looked at it. "So I hear your boyfriend just up and left you, yo. Course I'm not that really surprised. He didn't really care for you did he?" Reno took a sip of his drink and made a face. "It's too bad someone finished him off before we could."

Rude looked at him, his mouth open, in shock, his sunglasses slipping off his face.

Tifa glared at him, her eyes growing damp. "Don't you say one more word about Cloud!"

"Well it's not like he cared for you anyways. He just up and abandons you every chance he gets. Some boyfriend he is. Y'know I bet right now he's not even thinking about you."

Tifa glared at him eyes watering as she picked up Rude's glass and threw the contents at Reno.

Reno looked at her shocked and confused, covered with the drink. "Well it's no wonder he disappeared, yo! He wanted to get away from you and your violent tendencies!"

Tifa balled up her fist and punched him, sending Reno through the window, breaking it. "You stay out of here Reno! I never want to see your face again!"

Reno crawled away from the wreckage and stood up a few feet away and nodded to Tifa once. "Crazy woman on the loose! Crazy woman on the loose!" He said as he ran as fast as he could.

Tifa collapsed to the ground, crying in her hands.

Rude looked at her, feeling torn between following his partner and helping Tifa. He awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Reno obviously skipped the day that brains were handed out. Don't listen to him." Tifa looked up at him, now openly crying in front of Rude; completely shocked that Rude was talking. "I'm really sorry about the mess. I'll come by and fix it for you later." He said as he walked after Reno, leaving a still shocked and even more confused Tifa to stare at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

Reno sighed, hands behind his head, as Rude finally caught up to him. "Y'know, I don't understand what you see in her man. She's beyond crazy." He was rewarded with a hard smack to the back of his head. "Oww. What the heck man? That hurt! It's true though. She's scary, yo."

Rude glared at him over his sunglasses and smacked him again.

Reno glared back at him. "You wanna fight Rude? Cause this time _you'll_ be the one who's going down!" He pulled his EMR out and got into a fighting stance.

Rude fixed his gloves and began to pop his knuckles. "In your dreams Reno."

"You two are like children!" Elena said as she came up between them annoyed. "The President is really pissed that you two have been gone most of the morning. Where have you two been?" She asked as she grabbed them by their arms and pulled them inside.

"Rude started it! He smacked me on my head!" Reno said as pathetically as possible, giving her puppy dog eyes.

Rude sighed, his hand on his head, shaking it a bit.

"You shouldn't act all innocent Reno. I'm sure you did something to deserve it." She released the both of them as they got closer to Rufus' office.

Reno just gasped at her, completely shocked and speechless.

Rude nodded, as he looked down at himself and began to try and repair the damage that Elena had caused by grabbing him. "You wrinkled my suit." He said to Elena, looking like a hurt puppy. "Reno picked a fight with a window and lost."

Reno crossed his arms and fumed silently for a minute, until he realized who was with them. "Wait…Elena? What the hell are YOU doing down here? We were going to have the fight to end all fights! You ruined it Elena! You're _always_ ruining stuff, man!"

Elena looked down, sighing. "They sent me to search for you two. I'm the rookie; I gotta do the boring and stupid jobs, including hunting you two down when I could be with Tseng." She looked at them annoyed and then sniffed the air and quickly covered her nose. "Pe-yew! Reno you stink like a bar! Oh! Maybe the boss will hate this so much and you'll get fired and then I'll get the promotion and not be the rookie anymore!"

Reno laughs, hitting her on her back. "In your dreams Elena! He'd never get rid of me! I've done a lot for this company! Besides, Rude would get the promotion before you. So you'll always be the rookie, Rookie!"

Elena sighed again, looking at the wall behind her.

* * *

As the trio walked up to Rufus's office, they were greeted by a very pissed off looking Tseng. "Well look who _finally_ showed up. I was beginning to hope that you were killed or had permanently gotten lost. It looks as if my luck is still holding." He said sarcastically as he looked at the two of them.

Reno laughed and playfully hit him on his shoulder. "C'mon Tseng! You know your life would be totally boring with out me and Rude in it!"

"Yes, imagine all the paperwork I could get done. The peace and quiet around here might be too much for me to handle. I may even get a chance to read some of my classical literature. Sadly, my luck is still holding." He repeated as Reno just laughed and Rude shook his head.

"There would be some of us that you would miss right Tseng?" Elena asked looking at him, eyes full of adoration and longing.

Tseng glanced down at her, "Shouldn't you be doing some unimportant and very boring rookie work, Rookie?"

Elena looked down dejected and depressed. "Yes sir."

Tseng turned his attention back to the wayward Turks. "Now hurry up and get in there before the President gets even more annoyed and decides to cut our pay."

"How is he going to cut our pay when we aren't getting paid anything to begin with?" Rude asked as the others looked up at him shocked. Rude cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

The group took a step to the door when Tseng stopped them. "By the way Reno, if you're going to attempt to get drunk, make sure the drink ends up in your mouth. You smell like a brewery."

Reno looked at them stunned as they walked in to face the wrath of the young President of ShinRa.

* * *

Rufus sat at his desk, looking at some papers, shaking his head in annoyance.

Tseng walked in, followed closely by the others, he cleared his throat. "Mr. President, Rude and Reno have finally showed up-"

He held a hand up to stop him as he wheeled himself out from behind his desk, holding the papers in his hands. "Look at this, AVALANCHE is _still_ going strong and is somehow making more money than we _ever_ made! It seems that the leader has found what is rumored to be the biggest oil field and is making money from it. It's being praised as the new energy source. We're ShinRa aren't we? We should've been on top of this! This money should be ours! Now where in the name of the lifestream have you two been?" He asked, glaring at Reno and then at Rude.

"Well boss, we heard a rumor that Cloud went missing, so being the good people we are we went to check on-"

"Torment."

Reno glared at him and then continued "We went to check on Tifa. Then things ended up going out of hand."

"He broke a window. It was a big window."

Rufus sighed, shaking his head. "We can't let you out in public Reno. You're always finding _something_ to break."

"Yeah well it's not like it's going to be broke for very long! Rude told her that he was going to fix it." He blabbed, being completely oblivious to the looks at Rude was throwing at him.

Rufus looked over at Rude, mildly interested. "Really now Rude?"

"It would look bad on the company if we don't take some responsibility for our more….enthusiastic employees. It would get us back on the public's good side." Everyone glanced at him as he quickly straightened his tie again.

"Hmm, if this information is true then this girl, this Tifa, may know some secrets about AVALANCHE and their oil, secrets that should be ours. Rude, I want you to get closer to her, find out what she knows. We can use what she knows to our advantage, we will be able to find a way to take control of their company. Then ShinRa will be on top once again!"

"See? This is why you're the boss, boss!" Reno said grinning.

"Yes sir, it's a very good plan." Tseng said nodding.

Elena just nodded eagerly, her hands together. "Yeah! I can't wait!"

Rude watched them as they congratulated him on his new plan. On the outside, he looked calm and collected, but behind his sunglasses, he had a torrent of emotions running loose inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

(AN:Please be warned, there are some heavy innuendos in this story. Also two of the characters are very drunk in this chapter!)

* * *

The next day with tool cases in hand, Rude and Reno headed to 7th Heaven to repair the damages cause by Reno's flying body. As soon as they arrived Rude took off his gloves, jacket and tie and placed them inside the bar, so they wouldn't get dirty. Rude began to pull out the broken boards and throw them in a pile a short distance away.

Reno sighed, hands behind his head, looking very bored. "Man, I'm soo bored Rude! Let me help too, yo."

Rude shook his head. "No."

"C'mon! Why not?"

Rude glanced up at him. "First apartment complex."

"Hey that wasn't entirely my fault! I didn't know that stuff was flammable!"

"You aren't touching _anything_."

"Yeah well the boss said I had to help you. Y'know the whole, I made the mess I gotta clean it up thing."

"You aren't burning another place down. Just stand there."

Reno moaned loudly and then grinned evilly, as he walked over to the tool cases.

Without looking up Rude called, "Don't even _think_ about touching the power tools!"

Reno sighed again. "Geez Rude, I don't understand why we gotta do this. I know you like her and stuff, but let someone else do it, yo. There's a bunch of rookies not doing anything back at the company!"

"Shut up Reno."

Reno sighed again and watched him for a few more seconds. "Rude I'm bored! Watching you work is sooo boring!" He whined.

"Find something else to do." He said, adding more glass and wood to the ever growing pile.

"I know! I'm gonna bug Tifa!"

Rude looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "She said she doesn't want to talk to or see you again."

"There are _many_ differences between you and me my friend. One of them being that I know how to handle women." Reno grinned as he pulled out a bottle of liquor.

"Reno where exactly were you keeping that bottle?"

"My back pocket. Duh." Reno said as he rolled his eyes.

Rude shook his head. "If you make her cry again, I'll send you to the hospital."

"But-"

"Hospital." He said glaring at him, pulling down his shades to emphasize his point.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. I'll try not to make her cry." He called as he walked inside.

Rude nodded once, turning back to his work.

* * *

Several hours later, Rude had finally gotten everything cleaned up, all he needed was to install the window and do some finishing touches. He sighed and stretched his sore muscles as he looked around. He began to put on his tie and suit, but then he stopped and looked around more urgently. He had not heard from or seen Reno in several hours. While he had to admit to himself he enjoyed the peace and quiet, he knew Reno couldn't be trusted on his own for any amount of time. When Reno was left alone things tended to explode, break or end up missing. He quickly walked into the bar and looked around some more. He then took the stairs two at a time as the found the door to the living room. He was about to open the door, when he paused, hearing a strange conversation coming from within the room.

* * *

"Hey Tifa, you wanna see my stick?" He heard a very drunk Reno ask.

"Sure! I'd love to see your stick! I've always wanted to see it!"

Rude's mouth fell open as he heard Tifa's reply.

"Here it is!"

"Ohh! It's so big! Can I touch it?"

"Touch all you want. My stick is bigger than anyone else's!" He said proudly.

"Wow. It looks so painful."

"You just gotta know how to use it. I find it to be quite enjoyable."

Rude just listened, completely in shock, as his rage slowly began to consume him.

"Hey, is Rude's stick as big as yours?"

Rude's mouth fell open as his face got very red, his rage momentarily forgotten.

"You kidding? His stick is the biggest at ShinRa, yo! It's the biggest stick I've _ever_ seen! D'you wanna see it?"

"Ohhh yes! I wanna see Rude's stick!"

At this point, Rude broke the door in his hurry to get into the room, ready to send Reno to the hospital. In fact, he would most likely be going in several pieces. As he entered the room, he gasped as what he saw.

* * *

On the floor surrounded by bottles was a completely wasted Reno and lying on the ground next to him was an equally as drunk Tifa.

Rude looked at them, shaking his head at the both of them. He focused first on Reno, glaring daggers at him.

Reno was sitting on the floor, bare-chested. His shirt, jacket, socks and shoes were laying about the room in various places. "Heyyy looks! Its ma buddy!" Reno said, grinning drunkenly at him.

Rude continued to glare at him as he heard Tifa giggling at him. He turned to look at her, to find out why she was laughing. His face turned a bright shade of red as he slowly looked her over.

Tifa was lying on her back, looking up at him, grinning. She had her leather top unzipped a good ways down, which let him get a good view of her cleavage and possibly a view of what Rude thought was a lacy black bra. "Heeyyy Rude!"

-I think I've hit the jackpot right now. Thank you to who ever created these sunglasses. I'm so glad I'm wearing them right now.- He thought to himself as he continued to gape at her.

Reno stood up and stumbled over to him, holding his EMR in one hand. "Heeyy Rude." He slurred as he hung on him. "You shoul' show Tifa your schtick, yo. She really wans to touch it."

Rude glared at him, annoyed with Reno from taking his attention away from Tifa's gorgeous body. "You're completely drunk Reno."

"Thas righ' an' Imma bout to pash out too." He said as he passed out at Rude's feet.

Rude shook his head as he rolled his drunk partner to his side. "Idiot. Learn to hold your liquor." He muttered under his breath. He then turned his attention back to Tifa, who had finally figured out how to stand up. He just watched her as she stumbled her way over to him. His breath caught in his chest as she hugged him, trying to press herself as close to him as she could. -She's touching me. She's pressing her chest up against me. Okay Rude, just stay calm. You can do that at least. She's completely drunk. She doesn't know what she's doing. You'll just have to kill Reno later.- He said to himself as he forced his hands to stop shaking.

"Y'know you're soooo shexy Rude. Always thought so. 'Specially your sunglasses. You look so delicious."

Rude blushed again, gulping and clearing his throat before he replied, "I look delicious?"

"Yeah, you're like ma own chocolate bar. I wanna eat you up." She said as she nuzzled her face into his neck.

Rude gulped again, his palms getting sweaty again. "Y-You don't say. That's interesting."

Tifa grinned as she picked up a bottle from the floor and took a large drink from it.

"I think you might have had enough Tifa." He said, attempting to take the bottle from her.

"No! 'Sides, I gots you here to takes care of me." She said snuggling up against him even more.

Reno blushed again as he gently pulled her off him, taking the bottle out of her hands and placing it on the floor. "Here, why don't you sit down Tifa?" He suggested as he gently led her to the couch.

"Y'know sumthin' we've been fightin' for like ever an' I don't think I ever saw your face. I wanna see it!" She said as she reached up to take his sunglasses off.

He stopped her hand. "Sorry. These always stay on."

Tifa crossed her arms and pouted. "Awww. 'Snot fair! I wants some too!"

Rude reached into his suit and with his shaking hand he slowly pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He then placed them in her hand. "Here. Have these."

Tifa grinned as she put them on. "Y'know Rude your not _tha'_ bad. In fact I gotta say you're pretty-" Tifa then passed out against him.

Rude smiled a little as he gently picked her up. "I'm pretty what?" He asked looking down at her. -I'm not Cloud. I'm not his replacement. You must've been thinking of him, not me.- He thought as he carried her up to her bedroom and placed her on her bed, covering her up with the blankets. He just watched her for a moment, and then went to brush a stray hair from in front of her face.

"Cloud." She whispered, a stray tear falling from her eyes.

He quickly pulled his hand back, shaking his head. "It's him she wants. Not me." He thought sadly as he walked back down to the living room. He once again removed his suit jack as he began to pick up the mess, stepping over (sometimes stepping on) a now sleeping Reno.


	5. Chapter 4 and a half

Chapter 4.5

* * *

(A/N: No you didn't read that wrong. This is chapter 4.5. This is chapter takes place while Reno is hanging out with Tifa. I really enjoyed drunk Tifa and drunk Reno so I had to write more to this scenario! I hope that you enjoy it! I promise that I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can! Please continue to give me reviews!)

* * *

Reno walked around the house for a bit, looking for Tifa. He rolled his eyes at the number of pictures there were of Cloud and Tifa and the annoying brat. – God. She's so obsessed with him, Rude doesn't stand a chance with her. Time to work my magic. Maybe this won't be such a bad day after all.- He grinned as he followed the source of the crying.

* * *

Tifa sat on the floor in her living room, sobbing on a cushion. –S-stupid Turks. Why can't they just leave me alone?- She reached down beside her and picked up a bottle and took a large drink of it. She sighed, closing her eyes. –Cloud wouldn't abandon us like this. He just has to care about me! I know he does! Maybe when I'll open my eyes, he'll be standing in the doorway with a present for me and a big apology.- She heard the living room door being open and she looked up eagerly.

Reno walked in, holding the bottle in front of him. "Hey Tifa! I got a present for you! Think of it as a temporary white flag!"

"Damn it Reno! You're not the one I wanted to see!" She glared at him then threw her face back down in the cushion.

"Oh come on! All the ladies love to see me! I thought maybe you were tired of the crap that you're drinking and wanted some really good stuff."

Tifa looked up and rolled her eyes at him. "I work in a bar Reno. I have the good stuff right here."

Reno rolled his eyes at her, "Tifa that stuff you served earlier was crap."

"Like I'd give you any of my good stuff! I just wanted to get you out of there as fast as I could. Just like now, get the hell out of my house!"

Reno walked over to the couch and sat down on it, opening the bottle and pouring himself a glass.

Tifa sighed annoyed. "I told you to get the hell out, not make yourself at home! Do you have a problem with your hearing?"

Reno laughed, pouring Tifa a glass and held it out to her. "I must have one, cause Rude tells me that exact same thing everyday."

Tifa moaned annoyed as she took the glass and looked at it. "What did you do to this Reno?"

"Why does everyone thing I do stuff to their drinks?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you really want me to answer that one?"

"Ha ha. Very funny. Now drink it, otherwise I'll make you drink it." He said as he took a swig of his.

Tifa looked over the drink and gave it a small sniff. Deciding that the drink was safe, she shrugged and drank the whole thing.

* * *

"No no! Seriously! You gotta tell me!" Tifa said, rather drunkenly as she stared up at Reno.

"I ain't tellin' you! 'Sides it's a well kept secret!" Reno laughed, pouring Tifa another drink.

"I'm gonna find out one way or 'nother about your hair!"

Reno just laughed again. "So I was thinkin I oughta tell you somethin'."

"Tell me what?"

"It's about the other day. I may have said somethin' stupid, but I'm not sure. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm ss-umm…uhh…soo…ehh…"

"Sorry?" Tifa asked, cocking her head to the side.

Reno clapped loudly and pointed at Tifa. "Yeah, that's the word!"

Tifa nodded, "Good enough. For now." Tifa took another long drink of her glass.

Reno looked over at Tifa, grinning evilly as an idea popped into his head. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small vile that said "Truth Serum". He put a few drops into the bottle and then refilled Tifa's glass. "So Tifa, whatcha think about me?"

Tifa took a swig of her drink and then looked at him for a few seconds. "Hmm. I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man in Midgar!"

"What about the last man on Gaia?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Hell no doesn't begin to cover it! I'd rather sleep with Don Corneo and he's dead!"

Reno moaned, throwing himself back on the couch. "Not cool Tifa! Y'know you're lucky that Rude wants to screw you six ways from Saturday."

Tifa paused in mid drink. "Rude is attracted to me?"

"Where the hell have you been? Didn't you overhear him telling me that?"

"That's cause he probably had Aeris with him. Pretty little Aeris. She got all the boys, including my Cloud!"

"Tifa listen, you gotta give up on him. If he cared why's he lookin' for her?"

Tifa looked at her glass sadly and took a small sip. "I don't know. I thought we had something, he saved my life a lot. I loved him ever since we were kids! I thought he could try and love me back!"

Reno sighed shaking his head, taking a drink of his glass. "Tifa, he left you. He doesn' care 'bout you. Prolly never did. He never woulda left if he did."

Tifa looked up at him, "Still no chance in hell Reno."

Reno moaned. "Aww c'mon on! I had this whole speech worked out! An' we would've ended up havin' sex on the floor! Woulda been really nice."

Tifa laughed as she finished her glass and held it out for more. "Say Reno, why aren't you drinking? You tryin' to get me drunk and sleep with me?"

Reno laughed a little, "You caught me." He said as Tifa took the bottle from him and poured him a glass.

"Drink up Reno!" She said as she took a sip from her glass.

* * *

Reno sat on the arm of the couch and laughed loudly. "An' the boss doesn't havea clue that it's goin' on!"

Tifa looked at him wide eyed. "Wow. So you use that many floors just for that?! It is you Reno, so I'm not surprised at all."

Reno stuck his tongue out at her. "Does better than this bar of yours!"

Tifa pouted a little. "Shut up Reno! You're nothing but a great big jerk! An' you wanna sleep with every female that moves!"

"Not every female! There are still a few that I haven't slept with! Just give me some time." He grinned, taking another sip. "Course my partner'll never get laid. Seems to be missing the gene that allows you to sleep with women."

Tifa laughed a little. "That's not nice Reno! Rude seems like a pretty decent guy."

"He's got his good points. He's one heck of a fighter. An' he's a damn good cook. Course the best part is that he always lets me do the talkin'." He laughed, drunkenly.

"I happen to think that he's a very nice dresser and that he's a sweet heart."

"Hmm. So you like Rude, probably as much as he likes you!"

Tifa blushed and looked away from him. "S-shut up Reno. Don't know what you're talking about. I mean, sure he's kinda cute and stuff, but still!"

Reno looked over at the door way and grinned. "Say Tifa, what do you say we make Rude a little jealous and maybe have a little fun?"

Tifa looked up from the floor. "Huh? Whatcha talkin' about?"

"Years ago Hojo implanted a device in me that let's me sense how close Rude is. And right now, he's comin' up here! Tifa, strip!"

Tifa blushed a bright red. "W-what?! No way! I'm not havin' sex with you!"

"C'mon Tifa! Just do it!" Reno said, as he pulled out his EMR and grinned. "It'll be really fun!"

Tifa was completely embarrassed but she had to admit that she was very intrigued at what Reno was planning. "Okay fine, but don't look!" She said as she ducked behind the couch.

"Yeah yeah. I'll TRY not to look, no promises though! I will try and sneak a few peeks though!" He said as he quickly took off his jacket, shirt and tie. Just for laughs, he also took off his shoes and socks.

Tifa stood up from behind the couch and dropped her shirt behind her. "There. I stripped."

Reno looked over at her and shook his head. "Tifa! You didn't even take anything off! This isn't going to work!"

"I took my undershirt off! You didn't tell me how much to take off!" Tifa said crossing her arms.

Reno sighed, shaking his head. "Tifa you gotta give me somethin' to work with!" He walked over to her and unzipped her top, exposing some of her breasts. "There, that's better. By the way Tifa, you got a nice rack there!"

Tifa blushed and then smacked him, however, she misjudged her drunkenness and ended up missing him and falling on to her back. "Ouch." She said as she began to laugh a bit. "I fell down!"

"Actually, that's a good spot for you Tifa. Don't move, now just go along with what I say." He said as he looked over the door. "Say Tifa, do you wanna see my stick?"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

(A/N Yay! My story is becoming more popular! Thanks to both my readers Jess Angel & emmausgirl94! Have all the materia you want, just don't tell Yuffie! Also kudos to those who can name the songs I used!)

* * *

Tifa woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. She slowly opened one eyes and then the other. "Dear lifestream! I'm_never_ going to drink again." She moaned as she put a hand on her head. She closed her eyes again, willing herself to go back to sleep.

Just as she had closed her eyes, she was awoken by a loud banding sound. She moaned again, covering her throbbing head with a pillow. "Not cool! I'm going to seriously hurt whoever is making this noise!" She said, throwing her pillow against the door.

She slowly stood up and covered her eyes at the sun peaking through her curtains. "It's too freaking bright! Go away sun!" She glanced at her side table and saw a pair of sunglasses sitting there. She picked them up, briefly wondering whose they were. The style was familiar to her, but she couldn't place whose they were. She blushed as a thought came to her, -Wait did I sleep with someone last night?- She quickly looked herself over, she blushed even more as she realized she wasn't wearing a top under her leather jacket.

-What on Gaia did I drink last night?- She thought as she slowly walked down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as she could. She vaguely remembered Barret telling her he was taking Marlene to the oil site, to give her a tour and to let her visit with Denzel. She sighed happily as the banging noise stopped, only to be replaced by a man singing loudly about men dressed sharply. "Gaahhh!" She cried loudly, attempting to cover her ears from the loud noise.

She ran down the stairs more quickly, trying to find the source of the noise, she paused at Cloud's room, checking as she did every day to make sure that he hadn't come back in the middle of the night. The only thing that had changed was there was a thin level of dust covering everything.

-How did I let this place get to be such a mess?- She thought as she looked around, noticing that every room in the house was worse than the previous one. She finally got to the door leading to her bar, wincing as the blaring noise became almost unbearable for her.

* * *

Rude was hammering at the framework that would soon become a window. His jacket, tie and gloves were hanging in plastic, as far away from the dust and dirt as he could make it. A small radio sat beside him, blaring music. The song ended and changed into one about a man singing about his girl with brown eyes. He sighed a little, replaying the events from the previous night in his head.

She had hugged him and touched him, several times. She had even admitted that she thought he was cute. He couldn't take her word for it though; she was completely drunk at the time. He had been tempted to take the bottle to get it analyzed, just to see what Reno gave her. Then of course, the most important thing, what she had started to say before she had passed out. "Y'know Rude your not _tha'_ bad. In fact I gotta say you're pretty-" He had spent the entire night trying to figure out what she was going to say, he had almost driven himself crazy. Then of course, she said Cloud's name after her put her in her bed. Not his name, never his. Cloud's name. Cloud had been gone for almost 2 months and yet Cloud was still causing him pain!

* * *

"What do you think you're _doing_ making so much noise this early in the morning?"

Rude looked up and saw Tifa coming out of the bar, very much annoyed. Part of him couldn't help but admire how attractive she was while wearing his sunglasses.

Rude cleared his throat a little, when she caught him staring. "I'm fixing the window." He said, stating the obvious.

Tifa rolled her eyes under the sunglasses. "I can see that." She looked at Rude and then finally recognized whose sunglasses they were. "These are yours!" She gasped as her face turned a bright red. "We didn't have sex last night did we?"

Rude's face turned as red as Tifa's as he quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of the images that popped up. "We didn't." He knelt down to the tool box, pretending to look for a tool, trying to hide his face, praying silently that she didn't read minds.

Tifa took a big sigh of relief, or maybe it was a sad sigh? She couldn't tell. "Good. Last night is very fuzzy to me. Oh, I guess you'll want these back." She said, lightly tapping them.

Rude glanced up at her and shook his head once. "Keep them. They're a gift."

Tifa smiled again, very please she wouldn't have to subject herself to the suns' brightness. While Rude had his back turned to her, she couldn't help but look at him, she was very surprised (and to her shock) but also very pleased to see how ripped he was. If she was being completely honest with herself, there had been numerous times when they had battled that she found herself staring at the quiet and mysterious Turk. Tifa blushed a little as she noticed that he was looking at her, as if expecting her to reply to something he had said. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?" She asked, very embarrassed.

"I asked if you were feeling okay. I know how nasty hangovers can be."

"I think I'll be okay in awhile. I just gotta wake up a bit more,get some coffee in me. Or maybe go back to sleep. By the way, thanks for letting me keep these." She tapped the sunglasses again.

"You're welcome." He finished pretending to look for a tool and stood up as he and Tifa looked at each other for a few moments. The song then changed to a slower song, a man began to singing about wanting to know about love.

Tifa blushed a bit as she just stood there looking at Rude, feeling like she should thank him for last night, but not knowing what to thank him for. She tried her hardest to remember what happened, but she kept getting distracted with thoughts of Rude.

Rude went to straighten his tie, but then realized he didn't have one on. So he let his hands awkwardly fall to his side. He noticed that she was distracted and felt compelled to say something. "You seem distracted."

Tifa blushed again, noticing how easily Rude was able to read her emotions. "I was just thinking."

"If you need to go back to bed to sleep I can come back later on." He said nervously.

Tifa shook her head. "I was just thinking about different things." She said quickly turning to look at his handiwork. -Don't say that you can't keep your eyes off him. Don't say that he looks gorgeous right now. Just say something _normal_.- "I was thinking about how great a carpenter you are and how you have a great style."

Rude blushed a little as Tifa complimented him. "Thank you, I always thought that you should make a good first impression on someone, so you need to look your best. As for my carpentry skills, when you have Reno as a partner, you need to know how to fix things."

Tifa giggled a little, behind her hand. "I can see how he might be a bit of a handful."

* * *

"Man! What the hell _happened_ last night?" Reno asked as he walked outside, standing in between Rude and Tifa, completely oblivious to their entire conversation. "It's too bright out here." He said, covering his eyes from the sun. "Hey Rude buddy, can I borrow a pair of sunglasses?"

"No." Rude stated simply. –God damn it Reno! Thanks for ruining this moment.- He thought, noticing that Tifa quickly blushed and pretended to be once again interested in the building. "You break too many pairs."

Reno sighed annoyed, "You're mean Rude." He looked over at Tifa and grinned, noting how she was dressed. "Hey Tifa, we had sex last night didn't we?"

Tifa blushed, she had forgotten that Reno was there too. –Please! Don't let me have slept with Reno last night! Please! Please!- She thought, begging to the lifestream.

Reno seeing her reaction grinned even more, his hangover completely forgotten. "Well that's pretty awesome! I had sex with you. Hey Rude, I had sex with the girl of your dreams before you did! Another point for me!" He laughed.

Rude growled under his breath, his hand automatically becoming a fist. There were times when Reno really pushed his buttons and this was one of them. Just as he was pull his fist back to punch him, he saw Reno, once again go flying into the bar, breaking some tables and another door. Rude's mouth fell open as he looked over at Tifa.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him, "How else were we going to get him to shut up? Even if I was drunk I don't think I'd sleep with him."

On the inside, Rude was grinning like a fool, on the outside he kept up his calm demeanor. "Nice moves Tifa. If you keep punching Reno through things this place will never get fixed up."

Tifa smiled up at him shyly. "Well it's a good thing that I know a great carpenter to fix it up."

Rude gave her a smile, even though it was a small one. "Thanks."

The two stared at each other again for a few more moments, just smiling at the other. This time, the silence didn't seem so awkward.

"So I think I need to repay you for all your hard work." Tifa said as she once again broke the silence.

Rude quickly shook his head and held his hands up. "There's no need. Reno is the one who broke everything."

Tifa laughed a little. "Well it was my fault in a way. I'm the one who punched him, so I need to make it up to you. So how about we have some dinner?"

-I never realized it before, Tifa has such cute laugh.- Rude thought, momentarily distracted. "Dinner?" He asked as he finally caught up with what was said.

"Yeah, dinner. You know the last meal of the day? Or don't Turks eat dinner?"

"No, we eat dinner. Just like everyone else." He said quietly. -Oh my. Is Tifa asking me out on a date? Did she just ask me out on a date?- He thought, grinning a bit on the inside.

"Well I wasn't thinking anything big or something. Just a quiet dinner here."

"Just the two of us?" He asked nervously.

Tifa blushed as she shook her head. "Oh no, Marlene will be here too. So it'll be the three of us. Is that okay?"

Rude quickly hid his disappointment and nodded, "Sure. That's okay with me. I don't mind."

Tifa smiled as she kissed his cheek. "Great! I'll see you tomorrow night then." Tifa began to walk back inside, but then paused at the door way. "Oh, and I'm going to try and go back to sleep. So if you could keep the noise down a bit, that'd be great. Oh and as soon as Reno wakes up again, could you please get him out of my bar?"

Rude just nodded as he watched her walk away. When she was out of his site, he slowly put his hand on his cheek where she had kissed him. -She kissed me. Tifa just kissed me.- He said as a smile appeared on his face. He turned his music down and began to work as quietly as he could installing the window as his insecurities about him and Tifa began to disappear.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

As soon as Tifa's head hit her pillow, she fell back to sleep. She didn't expect to get a very peaceful sleep, as her dreams had been haunted with nightmares for many weeks. Her dream tonight started out as it normally did. She was with Cloud and the others, fighting the Bahamut SIN, just like they did almost two years ago. Suddenly the Bahamut would charge Cloud and he would disappear, as if destroyed by the creature.

* * *

Today, her dream changed, Tifa found herself in a beautiful meadow, smiling and laughing as she was fighting a Shadow Creeper. She under estimated the animals as she became tired and worn out, just from the sheer numbers of them. She thought about calling to her companion for help, but she didn't want to seem like a weakling. One bit her in the shoulder, weakening her. She cried out loudly and fell to one knee, as she closed her eyes, knowing what was coming.

"TIFA!" She heard as she felt herself being pushed back, slowly opening one eye.

The person was surrounded by the Creepers, so she couldn't tell who was fighting; she heard herself gasping as she saw the person being buried under the mob.

She screamed the person's name, sobbing. It seemed that the closer she tried to get to her savior, the further away they were. She stopped and screamed the person's name one more time.

* * *

Tifa shot up from her bed, looking around in a daze; her senses were on high alert. She guessed by the lack of sunlight in her room that it was at least early evening. She could hear the sound of a young girl singing and she also smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. Her stomach growled loudly as she realized how hungry she was and how desperate she was to have something in her stomach that didn't have any liquor in it. She yawned and stretched as she stood up, her dream and the person who saved her momentarily forgotten.

* * *

"Is Tifa going to eat dinner with us today?" Marlene asked as she set the table with three plates.

"Maybe. Marlene, I'm not sure how I feel about leaving you here with her while she's like this." Barret said, looking around the mess in the kitchen, shaking his head sadly at the number of bottles in the sink.

Marlene ignored him momentarily as she quickly grabbed the picture of her, Tifa, Cloud and Denzel and placed it at the fourth place on the table. "Cloud, please come home soon. Please come home safe!" She whispered, looking at the picture. Barret smiled at her, as she did her nightly ritual. "Tifa's okay Papa. She's just upset right now. Tifa's _always_ been good at taking care of me!"

"Are you sure? I'd feel much better if you were at the site with me. I'm sure Denzel will be happy to have you there."

"It's boring there Papa! Denzel is always too busy to play with me! Besides, I wanna be _here_ when Cloud gets home!" Marlene said, crossing her arms.

Barret sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Fine, we'll see how Tifa is before we decide anything."

Marlene grinned as she hugged him. "You're the best Papa!"

* * *

Tifa walked into the kitchen, humming happily to herself. "Hello Barret. Hi Marlene! I didn't hear you two come in!" She sniffed the air. "Yum. This smells good. Did you make this Marlene?"

"I made this all by myself!" Marlene said proudly, relieved that Tifa wasn't falling over drunk tonight.

Barret watched Tifa very closely. Something was different about Tifa. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he was glad that it didn't include liquor. "We haven't been here very long. We figured you were sleeping and we didn't want to disturb you. By the way, when did you get the new window in the bar? It looks pretty great."

Tifa blushed as she filled her and Marlene's plates with food. "Well I just got it installed today. The old one was….damaged." She said blushing again.

Barret looked at her, with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

"I had a customer get a little too rowdy and broke the window." She said, not completely lying, but not completely telling the truth.

"Well it's amazing that you were able to find a carpenter."

Tifa smiled a little, as she sat down. "Well I happen to know a very good one."

Barret nodded, as he helped himself to the food. "He does very good work. Maybe you could see if he wants to come and work for me at the site. I could use someone like him."

Tifa blushed as she looked down at her plate. "Maybe, I'll have to ask him."

Barret sat down at the table and looked at Tifa, a serious expression on his face. "Tifa, you know that I'm going to be busy at the site for awhile. I won't be able to take care of Marlene very well. I need to know that you are okay enough to watch Marlene."

Tifa sighed annoying, looking up at him. "I'm fine Barret."

"Yeah, but the way you've been the past two weeks, it makes me wonder if you're stable and sober enough to take proper care of Marlene. I know you miss Cloud-"

Tifa slammed her hands on the table. "Look Barret, I'm fine. I know I've been incapacitated for awhile, but I'm okay now. I really don't want to hear about Cloud right now. If everyone keeps talking to me about Cloud, I'll _never_ get any better! I'll just keep sinking into a bottle! So please, just drop the subject!" Tifa stood up and placed her plate in the sink, looking at it in disgust. "The dinner was really good Marlene, you're getting better!"

Marlene beamed at Tifa's praise, ecstatic that Tifa was going to be okay now. "Thanks Tifa! I worked hard on it!"

Tifa smiled and nodded, she looked over at Barret and her look hardened. "I'm going to go upstairs; I want to be alone right now. So please don't disturb me. Your room is still clean Marlene and ready for you to sleep in. Barret, I'm sure the guest room besides the bar is clean enough for you. Now excuse me." Tifa walked out of the room.

* * *

Tifa walked upstairs and stopped and Cloud's room. She sighed as she walked inside, looking around. Thankfully, Cloud's room wasn't the worst room in the house, but she felt compelled to come in here nonetheless. Tifa hummed sadly to herself again as she picked up some of his things and looked at them. She picked up one of his jackets and held it to her face, as if trying to memorize his scent. She shook her head clear. –Come on Tifa! Get a grip on yourself! You're driving yourself crazy worrying about Cloud! He's got to be okay, he's Cloud. This isn't the situation at North Crater! Cloud isn't just going to show up and need you to take care of him. He's gone for now Tifa. Cloud will show up when he wants to. You can't waste anymore of your time moping about. Besides, you've got other things to worry about, like tomorrow night! So let's just cheer up and get to cleaning!- She thought as she began to place Cloud's belongings into different containers, telling herself that it was just to protect his things from being damaged when she cleaned the entire room.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

Rude rolled over on his side and hit his alarm clock, shutting it off. -Ever since the President played this song, it's been everywhere. I swear Reno programmed it into my clock on purpose.- He thought as he stood up and stretched. Rude began his day as he normally did, with one hundred sit-ups, one hundred push ups and finally one hundred pull ups. He was more distracted than usual; his mind was still trying to comprehend the fact that he was having dinner that night with Tifa. Part of him was thinking that it was just a dream and he would wake up at any minute. He showered and got prepared for his day, he stared at his suits for what seemed like hours, trying to figure out what would be the perfect outfit to wear.

* * *

Reno stood in the kitchen yawning, his hair still messed up from sleep. He yawned again as he looked around for something to eat. "Oi! Rude! We don't have anything to eat, yo!" He called as he shook his head. He then decided on the leftover pizza that was sitting on the counter.

"We have plenty of food. You don't like to eat anything that isn't pizza or already cooked."

Reno turned to glare at his partner, when his mouth fell open. "Rude?"

"What?" Rude asked as he walked into the kitchen, straightening his tie.

"You've got a date! Way to go man! Never knew you had it in ya!"

Rude looked at him, shocked. "How could you tell?"

"Look at yourself! You're wearing a colored tie!"

Rude looked down at it nervously. "It isn't too much is it? I just wanted everything to be perfect."

Reno looked him over and shrugged. "Yeah I guess its okay. So when is the date and who is the lucky person?"

"We're just having dinner. It's not a date."

"Aww! C'mon man! You're holding back on me, yo! Who is it?" Reno asked eagerly.

Rude pretended to be seriously interested in cleaning up the mess that Reno was making with his pizza.

Reno sighed, shaking his head; he then reached over and grabbed Rude's sunglasses. "Mine now!"

Rude turned and glared at him. "Give them back to me Reno!"

"Not until you tell me who this mysterious person is!" He said, as he jumped onto the counter and held them out of his reach.

Rude sighed annoyed. "Fine, it's Tifa." He said, reaching up and grabbing his sunglasses and putting them back on.

"See was that so hard? So you and Tifa are having a date tonight? Way to go big guy." He said hitting Rude on his shoulder as he jumped off the counter.

Rude rolled his eyes, finishing the cleaning. "Shut up Reno. It's not a date. It's just dinner, to repay me for fixing her bar."

Reno laughed, "Maybe you should have me destroy the bar then you can fix it, then maybe you'll get laid!"

Rude looked away, blushing a tiny bit. "Shut up Reno."

"Well as much as I wanna keep teasing you about your date tonight with Tifa, I would HATE to have Elena drag us to work again." He said over exaggerating the "hate" and rolling his eyes.

Rude shook his head as he walked into his room and switched his colored tie for his normal one. "Let's go." He told Reno as he headed outside.

* * *

They had barely made it twenty feet from their shared apartment when Reno asked, "Are you sure I didn't have sex with Tifa?"

"You didn't."

"Are you sure? Cause you know-"

"No Reno, you aren't the lifestreams gift to women."

Reno glared at him, crossing his arms. "Name one girl I haven't slept with!"

Rude rolled his eyes. "Tifa, obviously."

Reno rolled his eyes right back at him and stuck his tongue out at him for good measure. "Name two more!"

"There's Aeris. Also Yuffie."

"Aeris is dead! She doesn't count!"

"You didn't even when she was alive!"

"Fine! I couldn't sleep with Yuffie! She's 16!"

"That hasn't stopped you before." Rude muttered under his breath, earning him a glare from Reno. "Besides Monkey, she is 19 years old. She's been legal for awhile now."

Reno grinned, "Score! Tell the boss I'm gonna be in Wutai for awhile!" Reno turned to walk away.

Rude grabbed him by his collar. "Don't even think about it. We're going to work."

Reno moaned loudly, over exaggerating his shoulder shrug. "Rude you're such a killjoy! Maybe I should tell Tifa!" He threatened, grinning evilly.

"You aren't allowed anywhere Tifa! Not after you got her drunk! That reminds me, what did you give her?"

"I gave her booze. Duh." He said with a roll of his eyes.

Rude tried to resist the urge to smack him upside his head. "What was in the drink?"

"More booze. Man Rude, for someone who drinks as much as you do, you sure don't know your liquor, yo." Reno said as he opened the doors to Shin-Ra and they walked inside.

* * *

"Hey Rude! Congratulations!" One employee said as Rude walked him.

Rude looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Have fun tonight Rude!" The receptionist called as they headed to the elevator.

As the doors closed, Rude turned to Reno and glared at him. "Reennoo..."

"What? I didn't say anything to anyone! You're smiling today, even if it's a small smile. People never see you smile! Hell, I don't think even _I've_ seen you smile! So people are going to assume something good happened to you."

Rude scanned Reno's face. Their history together usually gave Rude the edge when trying to sort through Reno's fibs, but he had no luck today.

The elevator doors opened to reveal of group ten people standing by the doors, waiting for them. Some were applauding for Rude, others saying words of encouragement.

Rude hit the button to close the doors and turned to Reno, glaring daggers at him. "I know only 30 people at this company. How do they ALL know what I'm doing tonight?"

Reno just grinned as he pulled out his phone and waved it at him.

Rude growled under his breath as he punched the wall beside Reno's head. "You are paying the rent by yourself this month. Maybe for the next two months!"

"C'mon Rude! That's not fair!"

"You should've thought about that before you shared my private life with everyone in the company! Next time you tell you are out with a girl, I'll tell everyone."

Reno just laughed. "Everyone already knows when I have a new girl! That's not a big threat Rude."

Rude sighed annoyed as he opened the door to the elevator. He pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the more lewd comments.

* * *

At the end of the hallway, near Rufus' office, he spotted Elena looking at him, but she quickly looked away, as if embarrassed to have him spot her. Rude just shrugged as he continued down to Rufus' office.

Tseng stood at the door, waiting for them, when Rude and Reno walked up, he shook his head at him, annoyed. "Great, it seems like you've got a date tonight. That means you'll need time off to do whatever it is that couples do, going out on dates or whatever. That means more paperwork for me to do, that means I'll have to create a whole new folder just for _you_, which means I have to rearrange my _entire_ filing cabinet just for you!" He sighed shaking his head. "Now let's go, the boss wants to see us."

"Alright! We got a mission! Let's go! To President Shinra's office!" Reno said pointing in the air dramatically, as he took off running.

The rest of the Turks just sighed, shaking their heads, wondering where he had the energy sometimes.

* * *

Tseng, Rude, Reno and Elena stood in front of Rufus' desk, waiting for him to look up at them and tell them what their new mission was.

Rude looked over at Elena as she quickly looked back down. -Huh. I wonder what's wrong with Elena today?- Rude thought as he shrugged again, straightening his tie.

"Excuse me sir?" Tseng said as he cleared his throat. "I've brought the Turks sir. You said you had a mission for us."

Rufus looked up at them, "Ah! Rude! Just the Turk I wanted to see!" He said as he wheeled over to him.

The Turks looked at Rude, mouths dropping open. Rufus never spoke to Rude before, or any of the others like an individual. -What is with Rude? What makes him so special?-

Rude gulped a little, fixing his tie. "Umm, yes sir? What do you need?"

"Well I hear you have a dinner date tonight with Tifa."

Rude glared at Reno, who flinched a little in response. "Well it's not really a dinner date, sir. It's just dinner." He said nervously.

"Well what ever it is, I have something for you." He said handing him a sheet of paper.

Rude looked at it, eyes wide. "Sir? What is this?"

Reno grabbed the paper and gasped loudly. "Holy crap Rude! How'd you get this kinda money?! That's not fair! I should get paid too!"

Tseng nodded, as he looked at it, eyes wide. "Yes sir, I didn't know we were finally getting paid. Where's the money for the rest of us?"

Rufus shook his head, holding up his hand. "No, no. This is just a temporary loan to Rude. So this way he can do whatever it takes to woo Tifa, so that way he can find out secrets about AVALANCHE and get the money that they are making with their oil field. Rude, I expect this money to be repaid! I will be keeping track of the money you spend."

Rude gulped nervously. "Y-yes sir! I promise that I'll pay you back."

"Mr. President? You had a mission for us?" Tseng interrupted, forcing Rufus' attention back to him.

"What? Oh yes, Rude, you're dismissed for the day. I'm sure you want to get ready for you dinner date. Remember, this is very important for the future of Shin-Ra. Do NOT fail, otherwise, we'll be finding ourselves with one less Turk. Am I clear?"

Rude gulped and nodded. "Yes, sir. I understand completely." Rude then nodded Tseng and the others as he walked out of the room, seeing Elena's eyes follow him.

* * *

Rude made his way back to the locker rooms and sighed a bit, annoyed. He was looking forward to having a mission, so that way he would have something to take his mind off of the dinner tonight. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now, the dinner wasn't for several hours. Was he supposed to bring something? Was he supposed to help her somehow? He sighed, closing his locker and heading out into the hallway.

Elena was leaning up against the wall, waiting for him to come out. When he came out, he walked with him for a few seconds, before stopping him. "You know Rude, you're really lucky. You'll have to tell me your secret later! By the way, if I were you I'd buy her some flowers or something like that. She'd really appreciate it; I know I'd love it if Tseng would buy me flowers." She said smiling sadly to herself. "Enjoy your day off." She called as she ran off to join Reno and the others.

* * *

Two hours later, Rude found himself standing outside of 7th Heaven, holding a bouquet of flowers, pacing back and forth, trying to work up his courage to knock on the door.

The warning from Rufus kept playing over in his head. "Remember, this is very important for the future of Shin-Ra. Do NOT fail, otherwise, we'll be finding ourselves with one less Turk. Am I clear?"

Rude sighed as he stopped his pacing, he decided that right now, he wasn't going to worry about what Rufus said, and he was going to have dinner with Tifa tonight because he liked her and cared about her. Not because of Shin-Ra or because of Avalanche, that would be pushed aside for tonight. Tomorrow would be the time to worry about what he was going to do next. Tonight was what mattered. Tifa was what mattered.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

* * *

Rude stood in front of the door, pacing nervously, as he had done for the past thirty minutes. During this time he had went back to the flower seller and gotten some water to put them in, so the flowers wouldn't wilt while he worked up his courage. -Come on Rude. It's not that hard to knock on the door. - He thought as he raised his fist to knock. After a moment's hesitation, he lowered his hand and sighed, resuming his pacing. –This shouldn't be this hard. It's not like it's a date, it's just dinner.- He sighed, looking at the flowers. -It's perfectly normal to bring flowers to a female's house, especially after she's invited you to dinner, right? Or would she think that it's a date? Maybe she doesn't like flowers?- Rude stopped and shook his head, picking up the flowers, he raised his hand again. -Alright, let's do this Rude. Just knock on the door.- He took a deep breath as he finally knocked on the door. He took a few deep breathes to calm his nerves as he heard someone walking to the door.

* * *

"Yes? Who is it?" Marlene asked as she opened the door and peeked outside.

Rude tried to give her what he thought was a smile. "Umm, hello there."

Marlene looked up at him, opening the door wider. "Oh, it's just _you_. What do you want?" She asked glaring up at him.

Rude gulped a little nervously. "Well I'm here to see Tifa-"

"Tifa doesn't want to see you! Neither of us wants to see you! You aren't welcome here! _Nobody_ from ShinRa is welcome here! So you can just _go away_!" Marlene said as she slammed the door in his face.

Rude just stood there, eyes wide mouth open, trying to figure out what just happened, wondering if he had been just fooling himself.

* * *

Marlene walked back towards the living room, humming to herself, stopping in the kitchen. "Tifa, what's for dinner?"

Tifa looked over at Marlene as she walked back in. "Marlene, who was that at the door?"

Marlene just smiled innocently up at her, "Oh there wasn't anyone at the door Tifa! So, what are we having for dinner? Can we have chocolate strawberries for desert?" She asked eagerly.

Tifa sighed, shaking her head. "Seriously Marlene, I heard you yelling loudly and you slammed the door so hard that I could feel it all the way up here! So who was at the door?"

Marlene went and grabbed the strawberries and handed them to Tifa. "It was one of those Turks. The big one that's always quiet. I told him that we didn't want to see him and that he needed to go away."

Tifa dropped the spoon as she turned to look at her. "Marlene! I can't believe you did that!" Tifa said as she ran to the door.

* * *

Rude was still standing at the door, in shock, trying to figure out what on Gaia just happened. He was debating on whether or not he was going to leave. He had turned to continue his pacing when he heard the door open again.

"Wait Rude!" Tifa called as she walked out to him, she put his hand on his arm to stop him. "Please don't leave. I'm so sorry for what Marlene did. I guess I forgot to tell her that you were coming over to dinner. I wasn't expecting you for at least another hour or so!"

Rude looked down at her hand, smiling faintly at the contact that they shared. "It's okay. Here, I got you these." He said holding out the flowers, embarrassed. He turned his head a bit, watching her to see her reaction.

"Aww, you got me flowers!" She said brightly as she took them from his hand and inhaled them deeply. "How did you know that these were my favorites?"

Rude smiled a bit, very pleased with her reaction. "I just guessed. I'm glad you liked them."

Tifa took his hand gave it a squeeze, "They're very beautiful Rude! Thank you!" She gave his cheek a kiss.

Rude nodded once. "You're welcome."

Tifa smiled as she turned to walk into her house, still holding his hand. "Well I'm really glad that you were able to come! I was a bit nervous thinking you weren't going to show up." She walked inside, pulling him behind her.

Rude's face turned a light pink as he was pulled inside. He very much enjoyed the feeling of Tifa's hand in his. "I'm uh sorry if I…..inconvenienced you by showing up early."

Tifa smiled back at him, still holding his hand. "No it's okay. You might just have to help me finish some of the cooking." She said as she stopped in the kitchen.

Rude smiled a little, "I enjoy cooking."

Tifa smiled and giggled a little. "Really? You don't seem like the type to enjoy cooking."

Rude snorted a little, "Well….you've never tried Reno's cooking.."

Tifa laughed, "Yeah, I can't say that I have. It must be hard for a big strong man like you to survive on horrible cooking."

Rude laughed a bit, "Yeah, that's true."

Tifa smiled at him as they stood in the entryway of her kitchen.

* * *

Marlene cleared her throat, "Tifa the chocobo is ready to go in!"

Rude quickly let go of Tifa's hand as he looked at the ground, feeling very awkward.

Tifa's face turned a bright red, feeling self conscious, as she looked over at Marlene and smiled. "Thanks Marlene, now why do you go and play in your room and then wash up before dinner? It should be ready soon!"

Marlene gave Rude a glare as she looked at the both of them, but then looked up at Tifa and smiled. "Okay Tifa!" She said as she ran over to Tifa and gave her a hug, smiling smugly up at Rude as she gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Tifa smiled a little at Marlene, "What's was that for Marlene?" She asked giving her a hug back.

Marlene shrugged, "Just cause you're always _so_ nice to me and take care of me Tifa!" She called as walked out of the room, humming to herself as she looked at Rude with another smug look on her face.

* * *

Rude watched her walking away, thinking –I'm not sure that I like that girl.-

Tifa blushed a little as she looked back at Rude. "Sorry about that. Marlene isn't usually so affectionate with me."

Rude shook his head a little, "It's not a problem, from what I know you are like a second mother to her."

"I just take care of her from time to time." Tifa shrugged. "I've been doing it for awhile now, it just seems second nature to me."

Rude nodded a little, "It looks so natural for you to be taking care of her."

"Well I wouldn't mind if her dad would come back. It makes having a personal life a bit hard." Tifa waved her hand to the door, sending the previous conversation out the door. "Well enough about Marlene! Let's finish this dinner otherwise we'll never eat!" Tifa said as she changed the subject.

Rude nodded, "Yes, of course. What are we having?" He asked as he removed his suit jacket and gloves.

Tifa looked down, trying not to stare at him. "Well, we are having herb roasted chocobo and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert."

"Sounds good. What do you need me to do to help?" He asked as he took an apron off the hook and put it on.

Tifa looked at him and giggled at the sight of the Turk in a flowered apron. "Well you can start by putting the chocobo in to roast, while I melt the chocolate for the strawberries."

Rude nodded, "Alright, that I can do." He said as he took it and placed it in the oven.

Tifa giggled as she began to melt the chocolate, stirring it so it wouldn't burn. "Rude, you look really silly in that apron."

Rude grabbed the strawberries and washed them, smiling faintly. "Well I'm used to having Reno around to screw something up. And that usually gets something on my suits. Which I don't like." He stated, not looking away from the task at hand.

Tifa looked at him and then down at the chocolate and then back up at Rude, grinning a bit as she picked up the strawberries and began to dip them in the chocolate. "So you don't like getting your suit dirty huh?" She asked as he gave her a tray to put them on.

"Yes, I don't like to get anything on my suits." He said as she opened the door to the fridge for him and she placed them inside to cool.

"Really now?" She asked as she held up the spoon, with the last of the chocolate on it and put a little drop on her finger. "So what would happen if I were to just put this little bit of chocolate on you?"

Rude turned to look at her, as she slowly walked closer to him, holding up her finger. "Tifa…." He warned, giving her a look.

Tifa just grinned even more brightly at him. "It's just a little chocolate Rude! It's not going to hurt!" She said as she got closer to him.

Rude slowly began to back away from her, holding his hands up. "Please Tifa, don't do this."

Tifa stopped right in front of him, holding her finger up and the chocolate covered spoon in the other, just grinned as she looked up at him. "What's the matter Rude? Don't tell me you're afraid of a little chocolate."

"I'm not afraid of chocolate….just what will happen if it gets on my suit." He said as he gently grabbed her wrist to try and stop her from putting the chocolate on him.

Tifa giggled a little at the situation. "So the mighty Rude is afraid of getting a little dirt on his suit. I'll have to use that to my advantage." She then wiped the chocolate on the apron and leaned over to whisper, "That's too bad. I happen to enjoy getting a little chocolate on me."

Rude looked at Tifa, his entire face a bright red, his sunglasses slipping down his nose a bit. He tried to exhale, but it seemed to get stuck in his chest and his knees seemed like they weren't capable of supporting his weight anymore and threatened to collapse on him.

* * *

"Is dinner ready yet?" Marlene asked as she walked into the kitchen. She had been listening and watching from the hallway, she had noticed something going on between them and she had to stop it. Tifa belonged with Cloud, not with him. He was going to ruin their perfect family! She just had to stop them before it got worse!

Rude and Tifa quickly parted and blushed as they looked around, trying to find something else to look at, besides the other person. Rude faked a cough, as he scratched the back of his head. Tifa pretended to be busy with fixing the last of the strawberries, an optimistic smile on her face.

Tifa quickly opened the oven and looked at it. "Well I think the chocobo is ready, the strawberries won't be ready for a little while longer, so we can have them before you go to bed Marlene!" She said as she pulled the chocobo out and looked it over.

Marlene nodded, "Yeah! It'll be _our_ treat tonight!" She said, looking over at Rude with a look of annoyance, not wanting to share Tifa or her favorite dessert.

Rude gulped a little, wondering how it was that a 9 year old girl could unnerve him this much.

"Go get the plates Marlene. We'll bring everything out."

Marlene nodded, giving Rude one last glare as she turned and headed to the dining room.

Tifa looked over at Rude, her cheeks a faint pink. "Could you please carry this into the dinning room?" She asked being overly polite.

Rude nodded, putting his jacket and gloves back on. "Of course, Tifa. I'll do that for you." He said as he picked it up, following after Tifa, trying not to watch her as she walked in front of him.

* * *

Marlene waited until Rude and Tifa walked in and then placed the picture of her family on the fourth place and said, "Please come home soon Cloud! We all miss you. Please come home safe!" She said, as she looked up at them, with a sweet smile on her face.

Tifa just smiled a little sadly, part of her wishing that Marlene had decided to not go through with that ritual of hers tonight. How was she going to explain that to Rude? She just smiled at Marlene as she showed Rude where to place the chocobo. "Marlene, did you wash up?" She asked knowing she hadn't.

Marlene smiled a bit, knowing she was caught, "Oops I forgot! I'll be right back!" She said as she ran into the kitchen to wash her hands.

Rude just looked at the picture very annoyed. –Seems like no matter what happens I'll always come second.- He thought, wondering if it was a mistake to have even agreed to this dinner. He just stood there, frowning deeply at the picture when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I swear I didn't know she was going to do this….It's something that she's apparently done for awhile. She cared for C-Cloud a lot." She said her voice breaking a little as she tried to hold back her tears. "She misses him even more than I do, she thinks if she does this then maybe Cloud will come back. I don't want to crush her dreams, she's only a child."

Rude looked at Tifa, his heart breaking as Tifa tried to be strong. He put his hand on her face. "I understand. I promise that I won't crush her dreams."

Tifa just looked up at him with a small smile. "Thank you Rude." She whispered as she looked up at him.

"All right! Lets eat!" Marlene said as she quickly ran into the room.

Tifa and Rude quickly parted, once again looking at something else than the other person.

"Well umm, why don't we sit down and enjoy this before it gets cold?" Tifa muttered as she gestured to the table.

-I really don't like that girl.- Rude thought as he sat across from Tifa, watching as she first served him and then Marlene.

* * *

Dinner was a very tense affair for Tifa and Rude. Whenever Rude would try and talk to Tifa or place his hand on hers he would look over and see Marlene glaring daggers at him, so Rude kept mostly to himself. Tifa and Marlene controlled most of the conversation. He noticed that Tifa seemed very upset by the number of times that Marlene mentioned Cloud, so Rude looked down and tried to figure out a plan to try and help her feel better.

* * *

"Thanks for the dinner and the chocolate strawberries!" Marlene said as she walked downstairs, dressed in her pjs, giving Tifa another hug and a kiss.

"You're welcome Marlene. Now you get up to bed young lady. It's way passed your bedtime."

"But Tifa!" Marlene said as she looked over at Rude, not wanting to leave them alone, even for a second.

Tifa smiled down at her, "Don't 'But Tifa' me! Now come on let's get you to bed." She looked over at Rude and gave him a smile. "Give me a few minutes to get her to bed; I'll be right back down." She said as she led Marlene up to her room.

* * *

As soon as Tifa went up the stairs with Marlene, Rude stood up and began pacing once again. He sighed, putting on hand on his head. Just when it seemed he had a chance of getting closer to Tifa, something always seemed to happen to drive a wedge in between them. First Reno, now Marlene. –Maybe I'm just fooling myself. Maybe nothing will happen between Tifa and I.- He sighed as his pace quickened. –Maybe I should just cut my losses now and be done with it. –

* * *

Tifa came down the stairs and saw Rude pacing nervously. She giggled a little as she watched him. He was always so calm and so emotionless; it was interesting to see him so nervous. Tifa walked up to him and cleared her throat.

Rude stopped his pacing and turned to look at her. "Well I guess she finally fell asleep." He said, once again stating the obvious.

Tifa giggled again, "Yeah, I was almost tempted to use Sleepel on her to get to finally close her eyes." Tifa said laughing.

Rude chuckled a bit and then looked at her again, unsure if he should stay or if he should go. "So." He stated, just looking at her.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the bar with me?" Tifa asked, surprising Rude. "I don't want to be alone right now. I know the bartender will give us a good discount on drinks. There's a remodeling special going on now."

Rude raised his eyebrow at her. "Remodeling special?"

"Yeah." Tifa nodded and smiled. "The bar got a really nice window and door put in, so she's giving free drinks out to the man who helped her pull herself together." She said as she took his hand again.

Rude smiled as he held her hand tightly in his and gave it a small kiss. "I would enjoy that very much Tifa." He said, giving her a smile.

Tifa just smiled back at him as she continued to hold his hand. –Thank you lifestream.- She thought as she led Rude to her bar, feeling much better than she had in a very long time.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

((Hello readers! How is everyone doing? Here's the next chapter for the story! If you are enjoying it, please give it a review! Review's are a writers bread and butter! So please give it a review or just ask how I'm doing! It'll help inspire me to get more chapters up faster!))

* * *

Tifa released Rude's hand as they entered the bar. She turned on the small radio behind the bar and smiled at Rude. "So, what can I get you?" She asked as she grabbed two glasses from the shelf above her.

Rude quickly glanced at the shelves behind her. "I'll take whiskey, please."

Tifa nodded, "Any particular brand? Or would you like for me to surprise you?"

"Surprise me." He said as he sat on a table next to the bar.

Tifa nodded again as she looked over the bottles and then selected one. She poured two glasses and handed one to Rude. "Here you go Rude. Enjoy!"

Rude smiled a bit as he took the glass. "Thanks." He looked over and chuckled a bit at Tifa, who took a large drink from hers.

Tifa looked over at him with a raised eyebrow as she then hopped onto the bar, sitting on the edge and began swinging her legs back and forth. "What's so funny?"

"It just surprised me a little. Never pictured you as a whiskey drinker."

Tifa grinned at him. "I work in a bar, Rude. I can drink almost anything in here. The customers like to buy me drinks from time to time."

"I guess that'd do it." Rude took a sip of his drink and looked at it appreciatively. "This is very good. I don't think I've had this brand before. What is it?"

"It's called 'Whiskeyheim'. It's a specialty of my hometown." Tifa said as she picked up the bottle and held it close to her, fondly.

"It's very good. I'll have to get some of my own."

Tifa shook her head sadly. "You wouldn't be able to get it anymore. Nobody who lives there knows how to make it."

Rude gave her a questioning look.

"My hometown is Nibelheim. After the…..incident….nobody has been able to reproduce it."

"Ah..." Rude looked down, suddenly feeling very guilty. "I'm very sorry."

"I had to sneak into my own house to get these bottles. I've got maybe 4 or 5 left."

"Maybe you should save them." He said, regretting that he drank his glass.

Tifa smiled as she poured him another glass. "This is a special occasion. We're celebrating, so it's okay to have a little. We'll have to switch to beer in a bit though."

Rude nodded, feeling very honored that Tifa felt he was worthy of sharing her special drink. He then took another sip.

Tifa smiled at Rude, watching him as he drank his whiskey. –Okay Tifa, you gotta ask him this question. It's been bugging you for awhile now.- She thought as she put the whiskey away and got out two beers. "So Rude, I have a question for you." She said, trying to sound as casual as she could.

Rude took the beer with a nod. "Okay, what's the question?"

Tifa's face turned pink as she looked away. "Well umm….it has to do with…Reno and some….rumors that have been going around." She blushed a bit.

Rude gave an exasperated sigh. He couldn't believe he was getting this question from her of all people! He made a mental note to find the person who had started the rumor and seriously injure them. "No. Reno and I aren't a couple. We are like brothers! I prefer women!" He said as he took a large drink of his beer.

Tifa laughed loudly looking at him. "Oh I wasn't talking about that!" She said laughing even harder. "I meant about Reno's hair! Is it a natural red?"

Rude nearly choked on his beer as he coughed the remainder out. "R…Reno's...hair? It's not naturally red. Look at his eyebrows, they're brown."

"I knew it! There is no way that red is natural! Speaking of hair," Tifa said as she ran a finger through her hair. "I'm thinking about getting mine cut again, maybe in a shorter style. What do you think?"

Rude looked at her and shook his head. "No, no. I think you look better with longer hair. It suits you."

Tifa smiled at him, "Well I'll just have to keep that in mind then. Would you like another beer? I think there might be a few chocolate covered strawberries left if you want some."

"That'd be fine. I'd like another beer."

"Great! I'll get the strawberries and be right back!" Tifa hopped off the counter and walked into her house.

* * *

Rude sat on the table, not wanting to believe his luck. Not only did he have dinner with Tifa, but now they were having a civil conversation. –Maybe I should ask her out on a date? Wait, what if she is dating someone right now?- He thought as he watched Tifa come backing in, grabbing two beers with one hand and holding the plate of strawberries with the other.

Tifa placed the strawberries on the counter and opened the beers, handing one to Rude. "Here you go handsome."

"Thanks." He said, taking the beer and smiling a little. "So Tifa….are you…..seeing anyone right now?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

Tifa hopped onto the counter and looked at him, sensing his nervousness and she decided to tease him a little bit. "Yeah, I'm seeing someone."

Rude looked at her, his heart skipped a few beats. –Am I too late? Is she dating someone else? Is she dating Cloud?- Unable to stop himself he asked, "Who?"

Tifa giggled a little, "Well I'm seeing you right now."

Rude momentarily forgot how to breathe, was this a date now? Were they a couple now?

"Tomorrow night I'll be seeing all my patrons when the bar reopens!" She couldn't help but add, seeing his expression.

Rude moaned a little. –Women! They are infuriating!- He thought as he drank more of his beer. He watched Tifa as she ate another strawberry and smiled at him. –But maybe it's a good thing sometimes.-

* * *

Tifa smiled at Rude as she then squealed happily as her favorite song came on. A woman was singing to a man telling him to hit her with his best shot. "I LOVE this song!" She said as she jumped off the counter and began to dance to the song.

Rude just watched her mesmerized. Her dancing was hypnotic; she was so graceful as she moved in time to the music.

Tifa lost herself in the music; it had been awhile since she let loose and just danced. She closed her eyes and sang along to the song. When the song was over, she opened her eyes and blushed, seeing Rude slowly applauding her.

"You're an amazing dancer Tifa. I didn't know you could dance."

Tifa looked to her feet, embarrassed. "Well I don't get to do it very often. He never took me dancing or anything like that." She said, not needing to mention who he was. Tifa shook her head clear then continued. "Do you know how to dance?"

Rude shrugged a little. "I know a few basic dance steps. Reno is the…..better dancer."

"Well I don't see Reno here. So will you dance with me?" She asked as the song changed to one about wanting it any way you needed it.

Rude gulped a little as he joined Tifa in her dance. He tried to not make it seem like he had no clue as to what he was doing.

Tifa saw he was hesitant and giggled, "You've never danced like this before have you, Rude?"

Rude shook his head. "I know a few steps for slower songs."

Tifa raised her eyebrows, "Really? I wouldn't picture you as a slow dancer."

Rude smiled, "Seems like we don't know each other as well as we thought."

"That's true. Say Rude?" She asked as the song ended and they walked back over to the bar and Tifa hopped back onto the counter.

"Hmm?" He asked as he grabbed two more beers and handed one to Tifa.

"I've always known you to be a quiet person. What made you want to talk to me the other day? You could've just left with Reno. What made you want to stay?"

He thought about it for a minute. "Well…Reno was being an ass….as usual. I didn't like seeing you upset so I wanted to do something to comfort you. Did you not want me to say something?"

Tifa shook her head, holding her beer in both hands. "No, I'm glad you said something. I was just completely shocked that you said something. Honestly, I didn't even know that you knew how to talk."

Rude laughed a little. "I get that a lot. I just prefer to be silent and let Reno do most of the talking."

"But you're talking to me." Tifa said, deciding she liked the sound of Rude's laugh.

"Well I enjoy talking to you."

"I feel honored. Thanks Rude."

"You're very welcome Tifa."

"I have another question for you; I hope you don't mind me asking it. Why did you want to work for ShinRa Electric?"

Rude sighed a little, looking down as his beer. "Well when you grow up in the slums without a strong family…like Reno and I did…you kinda grow up tough and mean…and the only place willing to take us was ShinRa."

"I guess I can understand that. I'm sorry if my question made you feel uncomfortable."

Rude shook his head, "I'm fine. That question is…difficult to answer. What made you want to be a bartender?"

"Hmm. I guess I just liked interacting with people, helping them relax." Tifa shrugged. "So what would you do if you didn't work for ShinRa?"

Rude took a sip of his beer and then shrugged. "I don't know. I've worked with ShinRa for so many years. I don't know what else I'm good at."

Tifa smiled at him, reassuringly. "Well you're an amazing carpenter! You've made my bar look brand new again!"

Rude flushed a little. "Thanks." He muttered. "So what about you? What would you be doing?"

Tifa put a finger on her kip as she thought about it for a few minutes. "Well I don't know. I would like to get married and have some kids. Right now, my options for husbands are very slim, so right now my future just seems to be a bartender."

Rude could picture Tifa in a wedding dress, he tried to picture himself standing beside her, but somehow Cloud was easier to picture. Rude shook his head trying to get the image out of his head. It was easier to picture Tifa holding a baby that looked just like her. "You'd make an amazing mother someday."

Tifa smiled and then blushed, glad Rude couldn't see what was going through her head when she mentioned she wanted to be a mother. She had imagined herself about 6 months pregnant, with Rude standing beside her, holding a miniature version of himself. "Yeah, but my options for potential husbands are a bit limited at the moment." She repeated, not wanting to get her hopes up.

Rude just reached over and took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

She smiled at him a little, as she let go of his hand and grabbed some more beers. –Y'know, it feels really good to talk to Rude like this, I've missed having someone to talk to since Cloud left. Maybe Reno was right, maybe Cloud never did like me.- She thought somberly. "Say Rude?" She asked as she looked at him, holding the beer to him.

"Yes Tifa?" He asked, taking the beer, sensing something was upsetting her.

"Do…you think I'm….cute?" She asked hesitantly, feeling scared and nervous.

Rude looked at her, completely shocked. In fact he was so shocked that he dropped the beer that he was holding, causing it to splatter all over his suit and the counter. "_What_?"

"I was just thinking and wondering stuff. Do you think I'm cute?"

"Well yeah. Tifa, I may wear sunglasses all the time, but I'm not blind. You are very cute."

Tifa smiled brightly as she grabbed some towels and started to clean up the mess. "Thank you Rude."

Rude watched as Tifa cleaned up the mess that was on the counter as he began to try and pat himself down. He gave up halfway and decided to say what was on his mind. "Tifa…wouldyougooutwithme?" He rushed, not wanting to meet her eyes.

Tifa looked over at him, raising her eyebrows, not hearing what he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that Rude."

Rude took a deep breath to clam himself down. He placed his hands on the bar to steady himself. "Tifa would you go out with me?" He asked, finally meeting her eyes.

Tifa's entire face turned red, even her ears were a light pink. "Are you serious Rude? Cause if you're just messing with me, I'll have to kick you out of my bar." She said as her eyes watered a bit, not believing her own ears.

Rude nodded, taking her hands in his, not particularly caring that her hands were wet and were getting on his gloves, not caring that the beer was soaking into his suit. "Yes Tifa. I'm being serious. Would you go out with me?"

Tifa looked at him, biting her lip. –Just say yes Tifa! Say it!- Her heart shouted at her. –You can't do any worse than Rude! So what if he works for ShinRa? You can worry about that later, right now, do what you want to!- She took a deep breathe, her faced turned even more red, if that was even possible. She looked to Rude and then nodded once. "Yes Rude. I'll go out with you!"

Rude just smiled as he took Tifa's hand in his and brought it to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss, feeling happier than he had in a long time.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

Tifa and Rude talked for awhile afterwards, enjoying each others company, Rude's ungloved hand holding Tifa's. Neither wanted the night to end, but it was Rude who decided that it was time for him to leave.

Tifa smiled sadly as he stood up, she took his wet jacket, tie and gloves from the bar. "Sorry about getting your stuff wet. I can pay to have it dry cleaned for you."

Rude gave her a smile, laughing a little. "Honestly, a littler beer isn't the worst that's gotten on my suit. Reno's ruined at least three of them. He claims they were all accidents." He said with a roll of his eyes.

Tifa giggled behind her hand. "Well tomorrow is my grand reopening of the bar. You can come by and pick your suits up then and also stop by for a drink or two."

Rude gave her a nod. "Sounds good. Maybe we could do something after you close?"

Tifa nodded eagerly as she followed him to the door. "Sounds like a date!"

Rude leaned over to her and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and then straightened up, blushing a bit.

Tifa blushed a little as she looked up at him nervously. "Say Rude? I have one last question for you."

"Hmm?"

Tifa nervously began to run her fingers through her hair. "Well I was umm wondering why you decided to ask me out. It doesn't involve the fact that AVALANCHE has an oil field does it? If you want any of its secrets, I don't have any."

Rude gulped nervously, but then looked down at her, placing his hand on her cheek. "I honestly didn't know about the oil field until recently. I _do_ like you Tifa."

Tifa smiled brightly, feeling very relieved. "That's good. Really good! In fact, it's a huge relief!"

Rude gave her a small smile. "Glad to have helped. See you tomorrow night Tifa."

Tifa nodded. "Yup. See you tomorrow." She looked up at him shyly, "Sleep well Rude. Have sweet dreams."

Rude was taken aback for a moment. "Sleep well Tifa." He said as the two looked at each other for a moment. He wasn't sure what she was expected him to do, so he just took her hand and gave it a light kiss and then headed quickly out of the bar.

* * *

Rude walked back to his apartment with a small smile on his face. He couldn't believe his luck! He was in a relationship with Tifa, the girl he had admired from afar for a very long time. The sensible part of him was thinking that it was just a dream and that any minute he'd wake up.

He entered his apartment and was glad that Reno wasn't waiting up for him like he usually was. He looked at the couch and realized why Reno wasn't waiting for him –Great Reno's…entertaining again.- He thought as he picked up a dress, undergarments and a pair of shoes and neatly folded them up (as he usually did when Reno had females over). His smile returned as he began to get ready for bed. He had just put his sleep pants on and was headed to wash his shirt when he was stopped by a voice.

"Rude are you…smiling? Is that an actual smile?"

Rude sighed, ignoring Reno as he headed to the laundry room and placed his shirt in to wash.

"C'mon man! Did your date go well? Did you have sex with her, yo?" Reno asked eagerly.

Rude sighed annoyed. "We didn't have sex. Unlike you, I don't sleep with people when I first meet them. So what's this one named?"

Reno thought for a few moments then gave a lazy shrug of his shoulders. "Didn't catch her name. She's been saying mine enough though!"

Rude shook his head, sighing again.

"I see what you're trying to do! You think you're _so_ smart, man! You can't get me off topic like that so easily! Tell me how it went!" He said as he crossed his arms and stood in Rude's way.

Rude began to rub his forehead annoyed. "We had dinner and then we sat and talked for awhile. That's it."

Reno moaned loudly, throwing his hands up in the air. "_Seriously_, man? You really need me to give you some pointers on what to do with women, yo! You obviously don't know what you're doing!"

Rude walked past Reno and to his room. "Good night Reno." He said trying to end the conversation.

Reno ran in front of his door, blocking Rude from going in. In his most pathetic voice he looked up at Rude and said, "I thought we were _friends_. We're supposed to be bros, yo! Bros tell each other _everything_! Now c'mon Rude! Please tell me!"

Rude sighed again, knowing Reno wouldn't leave him alone until he told him. "Fine. We had a few drinks, talked and danced for a bit. Then I asked Tifa to go out with me. She said yes. We're going out after she closes the bar tomorrow. There."

Reno grinned at him. "See Rude? Was that really so hard? So what time tomorrow are you going out?"

Rude shook his head, he was about to answer when he heard a female's voice coming from Reno's room.

"Reno? Where'd you go?"

Reno gave Rude a smug grin. "Well, time to go back to work. Don't think our little conversation is over though! We'll continue it in the morning!" He called over his shoulder sauntering back to his room.

Rude sighed again, heading into his room. As he got himself ready for bed he prayed to the lifestream that Reno's female guest would keep him occupied until he forgot about their conversation.

* * *

Reno walked into his room and closed the door, giving the female in the bed a smile.

"What took you so long Reno?" She said annoyed.

"Sorry babe. Had a few problems to take care of. You've got my complete attention now."

She grinned at him as he made his way over to the bed. "Good."

"By the way, can you do a favor for me?" He asked as he climbed into the bed with her.

"Anything for you Reno."

"Great. I'll tell you about it later." He said as he returned his attention to her.

* * *

The next evening Tifa reopened her bar and aside for her usual customers, there was only one, (well technically two) new people. An hour and a half went by and she refilled drinks twice and made some small snacks.

-Dear lifestream it's so quiet in here! You'd think after being closed for over two months more people would show up!- She sighed resting her head on the bar as her customers laughed and drank.

At the other end of the bar, Reeve held up his glass and signaled to Tifa that he wanted a refill on his drink.

She stood up and grabbed a bottle of gin and walked down to him, glancing as the clock as she did so. "Here you go Reeve." She said as she poured him another. "Enjoy it!"

Reeve took it with a smile. "You know it's good to see you smiling again Tifa. I was getting a bit worried when I saw your bar wasn't open. I almost considered sending Caith Sith over to give you a good cheering up." He said as he reached up and scratched the robot's head.

"Well I got tired waking up with a hangover every morning. I also got some unexpected news recently." She said as she smiled a bit more, walking over to her small sink and washed the few dishes waiting for her. She looked up as the door opened and her smile got a bit bigger, but it also became a shyer smile.

Reeve looked over at the door. "Ah. I see."

Rude had walked in and made his way up to the bar where he silently sat down.

Tifa walked over to him and placed a glass in front of him. "What would you like?"

"I would like a beer please." He said, sound a bit nervous and also formal.

Tifa smiled as she grabbed him a beer and poured it. She got waved down by the men in the corner as she gave Rude a quick wink and said, "It's on the house handsome."

Rude flushed lightly as he took a quick drink of his beer.

"I didn't know you liked coming to this bar Rude." Reeve stated as he took a sip of his gin.

"Well sir, the beer is nice and cold, the food is tasty and the atmosphere is very appealing." He said, giving a quick glance to Tifa.

Reeve followed his glance and saw Tifa in the middle of a group of men, urging her to do more shots. "Yes, _very appealing_. So I heard about your dinner date last night."

Rude shook his head, taking a long drink. "Reno?" He asked raising his eyebrow.

Reeve nodded once. "Reno." Cait Sith had jumped off Reeve's shoulder and over to Tifa, where he sat on her shoulder. Reeve watched as Tifa smiled and laughed. "Well its good to see a smile on her face again. From what I've heard, she's had it pretty rough since he left. I've gotten to know her pretty well through Cait Sith. She's a sweet girl Rude, you'd better be good to her." Reeve said looking sternly at him.

Rude nodded once, as he looked down at his drink. "I will be very good to her sir. Don't worry about that."

* * *

Another hour and a half went by with only a small handful of patrons showing up to replace the few that would stumble out of the bar drunk.

Reeve had started to drink straight scotch and was drinking more of them. Tifa couldn't tell if he was drunk or not, so she decided to decrease the number of drinks she gave him. He started to entertain the other guests by talking more as Cait Sith than as himself.

Cait was on Tifa's shoulders as she walked around the bar, refreshing drinks and serving food. She was in the middle of a debate with Sith, shaking her head. "No Cait, a megaphone isn't the best weapon out there! There are plenty of other weapons out there. I prefer to use my fists."

Cait shook his head, smacking Tifa on the head. "Lassie! You don' know what you're talkin' aboot!"

Tifa laughed as she poured Rude another beer. "I do know what I'm taking about! My fists are deadly!"

"Lassie, shut your gurgle!"

Tifa shook her head, "What about you Rude? What's your weapon of choice? You can't say your fists! I already called it!"

Rude pondered about it for a few minutes as he drank some more of his beer. "Up close you can't beat a long sword or a katana, they are elegant and deadly. If you're looking for ranged weapons, I'll take a pair of handguns, quick and efficient. Of course this is my personal opinion."

Cait sighed, shaking his fist. "You're both wrong! Megaphones are without a dout th' _bes'_ weapon!"

Tifa looked over at Reeve with a raised eyebrow. "Really Reeve? Megaphones? Why a megaphone?"

Reeve just laughed a bit and shrugged.

"Would ya rather see me holdin' a Buster Sword like Cloud? I don' think so! Mayb' you should ask your boyfriend why he likes those sunglasses."

Tifa looked back over at Rude. "Yeah, that is a good question Rude. Why do you like those sunglasses? Is it for looks? Is it to get the girls?"

"What girls? Looks, maybe. Really, the sunglasses are just for intimidation." He admitted.

Tifa held up her hands and said, pretending to be scared. "I'll say, you are just so scary with those sunglasses on!"

Rude rolled his eyes at Tifa. "You have a pair too."

Tifa just gave him a grin, "My sunglasses are purely for looks."

"I never woulda thought tha' Rude would give a girl his sunglasses! Lassie, you must be extra special to him."

Tifa scratched his ears. "Well Rude is special to me Cait. So I'm honored that he gave me a pair of his sunglasses." Tifa gave Rude a small smile.

Rude returned Tifa's smile with one of his one. "I'm glad you think so."

"Maybe I should just close the bar now. You said you'd take me somewhere tonight."

Rude nodded, "That I did. So where would you like to go?"

"I'd like to go to Costa del Sol again. Course that's not really close is it?"

"I enjoyed Costa when I was there. It's very relaxing."

"Mmhm. Laying on the beach in the sun. No worry or care in the world." Tifa sighed happily as she closed her eyes and imagined herself back on the beach.

"I'll take you there someday Tifa."

Tifa gave him smile. "Well what about you Rude? Do you have any place you like?"

"I like Wutai. They have really good beer there."

Tifa blinked for a second and then laughed a bit. "Really? You like Wutai because of its beer? Not because it's a beautiful location? Or because the locals are interesting or entertaining? You like it because it has good beer?"

"Of course. They have some of the best beer I've ever tasted."

"I'll have to let Yuffie know that you like their beer. So did you really mean it? We'll go to Costa?"

Rude nodded. "Of course. It's a beautiful place; I'd like to go there with you."

Tifa flushed a bit, smiling at him again. "That's awful sweet of you Rude." Tifa leaned over the bar and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

* * *

The door flew open with a bang and in walked Reno with a large group of people behind him. "Hey Tifa! Heard this place was reopened! So I brought a few of my friends with me to celebrate!"

Tifa straightened up as she looked at all the people coming in. "Reno just how many people are with you?"

Reno shrugged as the people continued to walk in. "Maybe 300 or so? I didn't really do a head count."

Reeve calmly stood up and walked over to a chair sitting at a lone table. "This…is….not…._SPARTA_!" He shouted as he kicked the chair over, making the entire bar go quiet and stare at him. Reeve then calmly walked back over to the bar, sat down and continued his drinking.

Tifa sighed as she began pulling out glasses and resigned herself to her fate. –Me and my big mouth. I just _had_ to say that it was quiet in here. That I was thinking about closing early. I could be getting dinner with Rude, but noooo!- She thought as she began to pour two drinks at a time.

Rude watched her, hesitating as to whether or not he should help Tifa. He saw that she was struggling to keep up and stood up to offer help, but his shoulder was then grabbed.

Reno quickly grabbed him to stop him. "Hey Rude! You do really nice work. I can hardly recognize the place! Course that might be that there's less trash on the floor too, but whatever man! Let's get drunk and celebrate another successful mission today!" He said as he grabbed two beers from the counter.

Rude took the beer, shaking his head. "We didn't go on a mission today. You spent most of your time on the 50th floor today."

Reno took a large gulp of his beer and grinned. "I sure did, yo! It was a _very_ successful mission!"

"You know one day the boss is going to find out about your little arrangement that you've got going on."

Reno just shrugged. "He hasn't found out yet! Besides, I'm sure the boss wouldn't mind! Oh! I wanted you to meet a friend of mine, yo!" He said as tried to drag Rude away.

Rude looked over at Tifa and raised his eyebrow, trying to see if she needed help.

Tifa just shook her head and waved him away, urging him to have fun.

Rude sighed, shaking his head, knowing this date wasn't going to end as well as he had hoped. He allowed himself to be dragged away by Reno, but still kept his eye on Tifa, ready to assist her if needed.

* * *

Tifa made her way around the bar, refilling drinks and getting food as needed. She kept hoping that everyone in the bar would leave, so she could chat some more with Rude. She found herself glancing over at him every once in awhile, whenever he would catch her looking at him, she would blush and smile a bit.

"Hey you, barmaid!"

Tifa turned to the sound of the voice and saw a young man walking up to her, she could tell that he was slightly intoxicated. She put on a smile and looked at him. "Yes sir? What can I do for you?"

"Don't give me that high and mighty attitude." He said as he glared at her.

Tifa blinked a bit. "Excuse me?"

"Me and my friends asked you for your good whiskey. Not this cheap crap." He said showing her his drink.

Tifa sighed, running one hand through her hair. "Sir, I gave you some of the best whiskey I have. If you want, I can give you something different, with no charge."

He looked her over. "Hmm, I know what you can give me. How about you close this stupid place and come home with me. I'll show you a real party."

Tifa glared at him. "Sorry sir, but you can't have me, I'm not for sale. Now I'm going to have to politely ask that you leave my bar. Or I will have you thrown out." She said calmly.

He glared at her. "You think that you're so much better than me, but you're not! Every woman can be bought for a certain price."

Tifa growled under her breath as she pushed him towards the door. "Leave now! Get out of my bar right now trash!"

The man slowly stood back up and turned back to Tifa and glared at her. "You'll pay for that one." He said as he held his hand up to slap her.

Rude tightly grabbed the man's wrist and glared at him behind his sunglasses. "No."

He looked up at Rude and glared at him. "Oh, so you think you're going to stop me? I'd like to see you try."

"Fine with me." Rude grabbed the man and put him in a sleeper hold and waited until the man stopped struggling and finally passed out. Rude then grabbed him by his collar and held him in the air.

Tifa gave Rude a small smile. "Thank you Rude."

"Where do you want the trash?" He asked, holding the man up.

Tifa looked over at the man's friends, who were clearly embarrassed by his actions. "Put him out with the other garbage. They can pick him up later."

Rude nodded as he dragged them man to the door and then threw him by the garbage.

* * *

After the incident, the rest of the evening went almost without a hitch. Unless you count a drunk Reno jumping up onto the bar and trying to serenade a group of women with a song about him knowing how attractive he was.

One by one the others left the bar, the drunken mans friends apologized many times to Tifa and leaving her a bit of extra money and promising that he wouldn't come back to the bar with them again.

Reeve drank the last of his beverage and then looked over at Tifa, giving her a smile as Cait Sith climbed back onto his shoulder. "Tifa, it was good seeing you again kid. Take care of yourself." He looked up at Rude, standing by her. "Both of you take care of each other." He placed his money on the table and walked out, whistling a bit to himself as he did so.

Reno watched him walk out, eyes wide. "Man. I wish I could drink like him! I lost count after his 5th shot."

"Maybe when you grow up, Reno." Rude said as he helped Tifa to collect the remaining glasses.

"He had 2 gins, 4 glasses of scotch, 8 beers, 5 shots and his last drink was a shot of AllShear."

Reno looked at her, completely shocked. "He did a straight shot of AllShear? There's no way that he could've done that! _How_ is he still upright?"

"Not everyone is a lightweight like you Reno. Most people don't get drunk off of half a beer."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Well I'm outta here, yo. Maybe there are a few ladies out and about that need a bit of loving!"

Rude rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. "Have fun."

Tifa shook her head and laughed as she watched him stumble out of the door. "Is he always like this?" She laughed.

"Sadly yes. Sometimes he's much worse."

Tifa just laughed again as she continued to clean up.

* * *

Reno walked down the street, whistling to himself. So far, he hadn't found a woman, but the night wasn't over yet. He just had to keep looking, one would find him eventually.

"Hey you!" A voice called.

-Ha! Found a women who will be lucky enough to share my bed tonight!- He thought as he turned around and looked for the girl. He looked down and then frowned. "Oh, it's just you."

Marlene stood in front of him, in her pjs, arms crossed and glaring at him. "Shut up! I gotta to talk to you."

"Go away shrimp. You'll scare all the babes away, yo."

"Augh! We gotta do something! "

Reno sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, how about you go to bed and leave me alone." He put his hands behind his head and began to walk away.

Marlene shook her head. "No way! I gotta talk to you about Rude and Tifa!"

Reno stopped and looked at her, eye brow raised. "What about Rude and Tifa?"

"Stupid! You know they are dating! That stupid Turk is _ruining_ my perfect family!"

"Hey! That "stupid Turk" is my best friend, yo! Do you think I want to share him with a barmaid?"

Marlene just smiled at him. "We agree on something. What do we do?"

"Well the only explanation is that we should break them up somehow."

Marlene smiled again. "We can do it. We gotta work together, for now."

"You're right. Y'know you're a smart shrimp aren't you? So how do we get started?"

Marlene just looked up at him, smiling.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rude slowly opened his eyes as he switched off his alarm clock. He sat up in his bed for a few minutes, taking everything in. Today he was taking Tifa on a three day trip to Costa del Sol. –I can't believe it.- He thought as he stood up and stretched. –This has to be a dream. I've been dating Tifa for almost 3 months now. – He got himself ready for his day, trying to be quiet and not wake Reno, he knew if he woke Reno up there would be nothing but complaints about how he was being left behind and how he wanted to go. He re-checked his suit case for the third time since packing it, making sure he had everything that he would need, this time; however, he noticed that something seemed odd. He looked around his room, and in the living room, then angrily walked to Reno's room and pounded on his door.

* * *

"Why do you have to knock on my door so early, man?" Reno asked as he opened his door, yawning a little.

"Where…are….they?" He asked glaring at Reno.

"Where are what partner?" He asked, trying to pull off an innocent face.

"You know damn well what I'm taking about." He said, pounding his fist against the door frame. Where are my sunglasses?"

Reno rolled his eyes at him. "You've got a pair on your face, Rude."

"I'm not talking about these. Where are all my other pairs of sunglasses? I have dozens of pairs of sunglasses. Why can't I find them?"

"You must have lost them."

"I don't lose them. I have a specific place that I put them every night. The only one who could have gotten them is you. Now, tell me where they are."

Reno just smiled and crossed his arms. "I hid them."

"You….hid them?" He asked, shocked.

"Yup. I hid them. Every single pair."

Rude moaned annoyed. "Reno! I don't have time for this! I'm going to be late meeting Tifa."

"Oh yeah, your little vacation to the beach. I completely forgot it was today. You should have told me you were going Rude. I would've made you a going away present. Maybe a cake or something."

Rude sighed, getting irritated. "Just tell me where you hid them Reno."

"Why should I? It's not like you need all those sunglasses."

"Tell me now. Otherwise I'll spill to the boss about the 50th floor."

"You wouldn't." Reno said, calling his bluff.

Rude glanced at him over his sunglasses, crossing his arms. "Try me."

Reno and Rude just stared at each other for a few minutes, until Reno sighed and uncrossed his arms. "I'll give them back on one condition."

"What's the condition?"

"Take me with you."

"No way. You'll do something to ruin the trip. You're staying here."

"Fine." Reno said shrugging as he turned back into his room. "I guess you'll never get your sunglasses back now."

Rude just stood there for a few moments, torn between getting his sunglasses back and having a nice quiet trip with Tifa. He sighed shaking his head, hoping that Tifa wouldn't be too upset with him. "Fine…..you can go. I swear if you do anything to ruin this relaxing vacation, you won't be able to get any girl for weeks after I'm through with you. Understood?" He said giving Reno a hard look.

"Yeah. Yeah. I got it." Reno said, just grinning.

"Fine. We're leaving in 10 minutes." Rude said, shaking his head. He turned to walk away but stopped. "Why are you so insistent about going with us? What's at the beach that you could enjoy that much?"

"Two words Rude. Women. Bikinis."

Rude shook his head again hoping he wasn't making a big mistake.

* * *

Tifa smiled as she finished her packing and closed up her suitcase. "There. That's the last of it." She looked at her watch and nodded. "Still got plenty of time to get Marlene down to the train station!" She grabbed her bag and headed down the stairs calling "Marlene! Are you ready to go yet? You're gonna miss your train!"

Marlene came running down the stairs, holding her backpack in one hand and her suitcase in the other. "Yeah. I'm ready. I don't see why I have to go to the oil site. I wanna go with you to the beach!"

Tifa sighed, shaking her head as she helped Marlene to put her backpack on. "I've explained this to you several times. You can't go on this trip. This trip is for Rude and I only."

Marlene looked up at her and pouted, "But I've been really good! I should get to go too! I don't get to go anywhere fun!"

Tifa shook her head as she adjusted Marlene's bow. "You are going to go somewhere fun." She leaned over and whispered, "I heard a rumor that your dad is going to take you and Denzel to the Gold Saucer."

Marlene looked at her with a big smile. "Really? He said that?"

Tifa nodded and winked at her. "But it's our little secret okay? Your dad wants to surprise you at the station. Now are you sure you want to go to some boring old beach?"

Marlene shook her head eagerly and ran over to the door. "No way! Come on! Let's go! Let's go! Hurry up! Hurry up!"

Tifa smiled as she picked up her suitcase and grabbed her keys as they headed for the door.

* * *

Marlene gave Tifa one last hug as she got ready to board her train. "Bye Tifa! See you in a couple of days!" She then ran to where Denzel was and gave him a hug.

Barret looked at Tifa worriedly, "Tifa, I want you to know that I've got a bad feeling about this…relationship you're in with this Turk."

"Barret, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself." Tifa said meeting his hard gaze with one of her own.

"I just want you to be careful and take care of yourself. I don't like that you are going on a trip with him! I don't want anything bad to happen to you!"

"Barret, I'm going to be okay. Rude would never do anything to hurt me!"

"I still don't like it; if something happened to you…I don't know what Marlene'd do. We lost Cloud! We can't lose you too! He's just luring you in to hurt you Tifa!"

Tifa crossed her arms. "Barret, you've crossed the line. I am leaving. I am going on a relaxing trip for 3 days with a man that makes me feel good about myself. Who cares who he works for? Now you'd better get on your train before it leaves."

Barret sighed and looked at Tifa, hopefully not for the last time. "I'll drop Marlene back at the bar. Hopefully, I'll see you when I get back. Remember Tifa, he's a Turk. He probably doesn't care about you." He then got on the train as the door closed and watched her as the train slowly began to pull away.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the train pulled away, tempted to stick her tongue out at him. –The only reason you say that is cause I'm the only one who'd watch Marlene for free!- She shook her head clear as she picked up her bag and smiled eagerly, forcing herself not to run as she went to meet up with Rude.

* * *

Rude stood waiting as patiently as he could for Tifa to come out of the station. He kept looking down at his watch and wanted to straighten his tie, but couldn't because Reno had forced him into the ridiculous outfit he was now wearing. He smiled as he saw Tifa run out of the station and look around for him.

Tifa looked around excitedly, her heart beating faster as she looked around for him, but she couldn't see him. She looked down dejectedly, as she leaned against her suitcase. "I guess he's not here yet." She said softly.

Rude saw Tifa sitting on her suit case, not twenty feet away from him. He smiled a bit, know that she didn't see him and didn't recognize him in his…..current outfit. He walked over to her and tapped her on his shoulder. "Hey there, what's a pretty girl like you doing all alone?"

Tifa sighed, annoyed. –Great. Some loser is going to try and hit on me.- Tifa shook her head. "Look dude, I'm gonna warn you now my boyfriend should be here any minute. He's really jealous and protective of me." She couldn't help but add. "So I'd leave if I were you."

Rude chuckled a bit; she wasn't paying attention at all. "He wouldn't scare me. What does your boyfriend look like? So I can see my competition."

Tifa giggled a bit as she smiled happily, putting her hands together and interlacing her fingers. "Well let's see, he's tall, bald, very good looking and always wears a pair of sunglasses that I can never seem to get off of him. He seems like he's a really mean guy, but underneath he's actually a total sweetheart. He'll be wearing what he always wears, a suit, in either black or blue." Tifa said, gushing happily, thinking of him.

Rude laughed, unable to fool her any longer. "I gave you very good reasons for why I wear the suits." He said, bending over and giving her a kiss on her cheek.

Tifa turned around and smiled even more. "Rude!" She said as she stood up and nearly knocked him over as she hugged him.

Rude was taken by surprise by her hug, but was able to steady himself in time. "Hi Tifa."

Tifa looked at him annoyed as they let each other go a few moments later. "Where were you?" She asked, hands on her hips. "I've been waiting for you for, like, ten minutes!"

"I've been here the entire time. You didn't see me. I'm not in my….usual outfit." He said, looking down embarrassed.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him and then looked at what he was wearing, as her mouth fell open. "What on Gaia are you wearing?"

Rude looked down at his outfit which consisted of a t-shirt with a flowered pattern, khaki shorts and a pair of sandals. "I was forced into wearing this."

Tifa hid her laugh behind her hand. "Well this certainly is an…interesting look for you, Rude." She said as she picked up her suitcase with one hand and held his with the other.

"There is a breeze on my legs. It's cold. I don't like it."

Tifa giggled again. "Oh my poor baby is out of his comfort zone. What were you going to do when we got to Costa?"

"Wear a suit?"

Tifa laughed harder and playfully hit his arm. "So you were going to willingly sit at the beach and get sand in your suit?"

Rude shook his head once as he led her away.

"So what did you have planned for us to do all weekend? Sit in the hotel room and have a staring contest?"

"Tifa, you would lose that one. All I do is stare at people. Spending a weekend in a hotel room with you does sound pretty nice though."

Tifa blushed a little, thinking of all the things that they could do in a hotel room. "You're no fun Rude! Why ask me to go to a beach if you aren't going to spend time with me?" She asked, pouting a little.

"To be with you without interruption from Reno or my job? To take you somewhere beautiful as you are?"

Tifa smiled a bit, looking down at her feet. "You really think I'm beautiful?"

Rude nodded once. "Of course you are."

Tifa smiled again. "Thank you."

Rude nodded once, and then sighed, looking up. "I'm sorry for not being able to go to the beach with you."

Tifa looked up at him, concerned. "You don't know how to swim? That's not a problem; I'm a very good teacher! I taught Denzel how to swim."

Rude shook his head.

Tifa thought about it and laughed. "Oh I know! You've never owned a swimsuit in your entire life! That's okay! There is a place on the beach that sells swimsuit!"

Rude shook his head again. "No, I have a swimsuit and I know how to swim. It's a part of the Turks job description."

"Are you sick?" She asked worriedly, standing on the tips of her toes to place her hand on his forehead. "If you're sick, we can go another time! I'll take care of you and make you some soup that's guaranteed to make anyone feel better!"

Rude smiled down at her, touched at her concern. He took her hand and gave it a kiss. "I'm not sick Tifa. It's just….well….I don't want…my sunglasses….broken."

Tifa looked at him and laughed again. "Your sunglasses?! Rude honey, you always have at least 5 pairs of sunglasses on you at all times! So what are you worried about?"

Rude shifted nervously as they stopped with his helicopter in sight. "That's the problem. Reno…..hid them." He said frowning deeply. "I only have the pair I'm wearing and the pair I gave you. I know what beaches are like. Kids everywhere, balls flying in the air...that means my sunglasses will break for sure. I can't have that! You have fun on the beach Tifa. I'll be in our room, watching from the window."

Tifa huffed annoyed, but then grinned wickedly as an idea came to her. "Fine then Rude, you can stay in the hotel room all weekend. I, however, will be at the beach in my swimsuit. Laying out in the sun, swimming in ocean. Then I will take myself to a lovely dinner in my beautiful dress."

Rude looked down at Tifa, debating on staying in the room, where it was safe and being down at the beach seeing Tifa in her swimsuit. "Tifa you aren't being fair."

Tifa smiled, knowing she had him cornered. "As an added bonus, I promise that if anything happens to your sunglasses, you can temporarily borrow mine."

"Are you sure?"

"You have to promise that you'll give them back to me, okay?"

"Fine, I promise you'll get your sunglasses back at the end of the vacation if mine get broken."

Tifa smiled and held her hand out. "Okay, now we shake on it."

Rude took her hand and shook it.

Tifa then grabbed his arm as he led her to his helicopter. "I've never been in a helicopter before!"

"It's an amazing view. I promise you'll enjoy it."

"I'm sorry Reno took your sunglasses Rude, but let's not that spoil our trip."

Rude hesitated for minute. "Well that's the thing Tifa, Reno and I came up with a…..compromise to the situation."

"A compromise? Don't tell me…." She looked at the helicopter and moaned.

* * *

Reno stood by the helicopter and smiled eagerly, also wearing a flowered t-shit, but his was mostly unbuttoned. "Heeyy, Tifaa! I'm crashing this little trip of yours! It's not just the two of you anymore!"

Rude looked at Tifa, nervously, hoping this wouldn't spoil their date. "I'm so sorry Tifa. He wouldn't agree to anything else. I tried to talk him out of it."

Tifa just glared at him. "I'm mad at you right now! I'm not going to speak with you until we get to Costa, got it?" She asked as she walked away from him and towards Reno as she glared at him. "I swear to the Lifestream if you do anything else, and I mean anything else, to ruin our vacation, I will personally see to it that you will NEVER be able to enjoy female company again!" She said as she climbed into the back and turned her head from them.

Reno just laughed as he head to the co-pilots seat; however, Rude stopped him before he was able to get in.

"So help me Reno, you do anything else to ruin this and you are going to lose all pizza privileges for a month!"

"But Rude, how will I survive without my pizza?! What will I eat?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something." He stated as he gave Tifa a headset and helped her to get situated and then buckled himself in, as he started to prepare the helicopter for take off.

Reno moaned loudly, running his hand through his hair, but then smiled a bit. –He only said anything else. He didn't say anything about plans that are already in place.- He grinned as he got into the helicopter and buckled himself in.

"Do I want to know what you are grinning about?" Rude asked, raising an eyebrow at Reno.

"Just thinking about all the babes in bikinis, partner." He said, putting his headset on. "Alright, let's get this vacation started lovebirds."

Tifa and Rude rolled their eyes at Reno as the helicopter took off into the air.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

(Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's been awhile. I broke my finger a few weeks ago, it's been hard to type. So I won't have another chapter for another week or two. I'm really sorry! -bows- Please enjoy this chapter!)

* * *

As soon as they reached a high enough altitude, Rude took control of the chopper and began to fly them to their destination. "Tifa, take a look out your window."

Tifa heard him, but didn't reply, still upset at him for bringing Reno along, however she couldn't help but look out at the view and gasped. They were just above Edge and she thought could see the ocean off in the distance, the view was breath taking.

"No matter how many times I come up in this, the view still takes my breath away. This is the _only_ way to travel!" Reno said, grinning.

Tifa nodded. "It's amazing. I had forgotten how beautiful everything was from up here. It's like most of my problems just-"

"Seem not to exist anymore." Rude finished for her.

Tifa smiled and nodded. "That's it exactly."

"So am I forgiven Tifa?" Rude asked a bit worried.

"Of course you are, Rude. I can't stay mad at you for long."

Rude smiled in relief, it would have been a long weekend if Tifa was mad at him.

"What about me Tifa? I _was_ the one who suggested taking the chopper!"

Tifa glared at him. "I can stay mad at you till the end of time! I'm still mad at you for giving me Truth Serum!"

Rude turned and glared at him, almost causing the chopper to plummet into the water. "Truth Serum?! You gave Tifa _Truth Serum_?! Why did you _have_ Truth Serum with you?!"

"Umm Rude? Don't know if you noticed, but the ocean is getting closer!" Tifa said, as she started to freak out and look for something to grab.

"I'm a Turk, I _always_ have Truth Serum with me. You never know when you're going to need it. Besides it got you two together, so there is no problem with it."

"That's blatant abuse ShinRa technology. I should tell the President about this."

"Yeah well this little vacation of yours is blatant abuse of ShinRa technology."

"Rude! The ocean is getting closer! We're going to crash into it!"

Rude rolled his eyes as he quickly pulled up and leveled it out. "Sorry, Tifa. I didn't mean to scare you." Rude quickly apologized. "Reno, you should stop using big words that you don't understand. This is my own personal chopper, I can do whatever I want with it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Y'know Rude, you're just upset that you didn't think of doing that first."

Rude growled and then took a quick glance back at Tifa. "Are you okay?"

Tifa nodded a little, trying to catch her breath. "Yeah, just please don't do that again."

Rude nodded, focusing on making the rest of the trip as pleasant for Tifa as he could. "My apologizes, Tifa."

~~-~~

"Tifa, take a look, we're almost there, you can see the beach from here. We're getting ready to land soon."

Tifa looked down and gasped, "Oh wow. It's even more beautiful from the sky!"

Rude smiled and laughed a little. "You've never seen it from the sky before?"

Tifa shook her head once, still mesmerized with the view. "Last time I came we stowed away on a ShinRa boat."

"I remember that. You were so happy when you were here last time, you stood on the beach as long as you could."

Tifa looked down a bit, her face turning pink. "You were watching me?"

"A bit." Rude fake coughed.

Reno rolled his eyes. "Alright, enough about my partner and his stalker-like tendencies! I'm taking the chopper in for a landing, I would like some help with this!"

* * *

Tifa and Rude got checked into their hotel room and a hostess directed them to their room.

"I think the two of you will like this room very much. It has a splendid view of the beach and it's also very romantic." The old woman said giggling behind her hand.

Tifa and Rude blushed a little bit as they took their keys from the woman.

"Please enjoy your stay here and enjoy your honeymoon, lovebirds." The old lady said as she giggled again.

Rude blushed and quickly held his hands up. "W-we aren't married! We're just boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Well you booked the most romantic room we have and it is during the time when most weddings take place. There's no fooling these old eyes. You two are definitely married, if not married, engaged."

"Thank you very much ma'am." Rude bowed to the woman, took Tifa's hand and quickly led her to their room and closed the door behind him; then he began to laugh.

Tifa looked up at him and laughed as well, clutching her sides. "It looks like we're going to have to avoid her for the rest of the trip! She'll have us engaged by the end of the trip!"

Rude placed their suitcases on the bed, looking back at Tifa. "Take a look at the view."

Tifa ran to the window and looked out, eyes bright. "Oh wow! This is beautiful Rude!" The large window allowed Tifa with a fantastic view of the white sandy beaches and deep blue water; she could also see part of the town as well. "The water is so clear that I can see all the fish!"

Rude smiled at her as he hung up his suit in the closet. "You sound very excited Tifa."

Tifa smiled and nodded as she walked over to her suitcase and began to get some of her clothes out, checking to make sure that her dress was still nice and neat.

Rude nodded appreciatively at the dress. "It's a very nice dress Tifa."

Tifa smiled as she held it up against her. "Do you think so? I've had it for awhile now. I got it when I infiltrated Don Coreno's place and I figured I could save it and wear it again! You didn't tell me what we were going to do this weekend, so I figured I should pack it!" She smiled as she hung it up next to his suit. "Can we go down to the beach now Rude?" She asked, getting out her swimsuit.

Rude gulped a bit as he looked down at Tifa's suit; it was black and white, with some frills on the edges. "Are you sure you want to go down to the beach? We can still have that staring contest." He teased.

Tifa stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun Rude."

Rude looked out the window and chuckled a little. "Well we aren't going to the beach today anyway." He said, gesturing to the window.

Tifa looked at the window and then moaned, it had started pouring down rain. "Oh man. That's not fair!" She pouted crossing her arms. "I was looking forward to go to the beach."

Rude smiled a bit taking Tifa in his arms and holding her close. "I'm sorry Tifa. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow. We'll have to figure out something different to do tonight."

Tifa smiled a bit, burying her face in his chest, she was enjoying being held in his arms very much. She was hoping that he couldn't feel her heart racing. –Okay Tifa. This is the perfect moment to do this. Everything is perfect. Just do it!- She thought, looking shyly up at Rude. "Say umm Rude….there is something I want to say."

Rude smiled a little, loving how cute Tifa was when she was being shy. He had to admit to himself that he enjoyed holding Tifa in his arms, perhaps more than he should. He felt complete and at peace. Reno could have come into the room stark naked and ran around, but he wouldn't have noticed a thing. "Yes Tifa?"

-Don't lose your nerve now Tifa!- Tifa took a shaky breath and looked up at him. "I was...I just….you…." Tifa stamped her foot on the ground, trying to summon up her courage. However, she misjudged the distance and stomped on his foot.

Rude winced a bit. "Ow…."

"Oh shoot! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to step on your foot…"

"It's fine…I've dealt with much worse. Or don't you remember those beatings you and your friends dealt me?"

Tifa looked at him worriedly. "Are you sure?"

"Tifa, there isn't anything that you could do that Reno hasn't done before or a thousand times worse. Now, what were you trying to say?"

"I just wanted to say….that I….I…..was wondering…..I wanted to say…..I….wanted to go to the bar and do some dancing." She said lamely, loosing her courage.

Rude raised an eyebrow at her. "You want to go dancing?"

Tifa flushed and hid her face, less he could figure out what she was trying to say and tease her because of it. "Yes, silly of me isn't it? Wanting to go to a bar when I work in a bar." She muttered.

Rude let go of her and gently pulled her face up to meet his eye, loving how pink her face was. He gave her cheek a gentle kiss. "No. You aren't silly." He whispered in her ear.

She took a deep breath and tried to give him a smile. "From what I remember the bar is really nice and I would love to do some dancing, since we can't go down to the beach."

Rude thought about it for few moments and sighed. "Dancing huh?" He looked down at his suit, a bit embarrassed at his outfit. "I'll have to change my outfit; this isn't really an outfit to wear at a bar." He said as he grabbed an extra suit from his bag and headed into the bathroom to change.

As soon as the door was closed, Tifa grabbed the pillow and put it over her mouth to hide her scream. – Way to go Tifa! It's not_that_ hard to do!- Tifa sighed annoyed with herself as she placed the pillow back on the bed and stood up. "Just come out and say it. Say, Rude I-"

"You what Tifa?" Rude asked as he walked out of the bathroom, wearing a blue suit that Tifa hadn't seen him wear in a very long time.

Tifa sighed, balling one fist up, to keep it from shaking. "I just wanted to say that I…..I luh…I love the way that you look in that suit." She said lamely, her courage once again betraying her.

Rude raised his eyebrow at her again. He knew that there was something she wanted to tell him, but he wasn't going to force her to tell him. She would tell him when she was ready. "I haven't worn this suit in a long time. I was worried it wouldn't fit."

Tifa smiled, placing her hand on his arm. "I'm glad that it still fits you. This brings back a lot of memories." She said a little bit sadly, thinking of the past and of Him.

Rude took her hand in his. "I'm sorry Tifa. I can change into a different suit."

Tifa shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine, I promise! How can I not be fine when my handsome boyfriend is going to take me dancing?"

Rude smiled, giving her hand a kiss as he led Tifa out of the room. "Of course I am. It'll be fun."

* * *

Several hours and a few beers later, Rude was sulking in the booth at the bar. Watching as yet another man was dancing with his girlfriend. In fact, some of them were dancing a little too closely to her for this taste. He growled under his breath as her dance partner's hand went a little too low on Tifa's body. Rude angrily set his beer down, causing some of it to splash out. Rude moaned loudly, running both hands across his bald head, wishing that he had hair up there.

As the song ended, Tifa thanked her dance partner with a small smile. The entire time she was dancing she could see (and feel) Rude's glares at the men she was dancing with. She shook her head a little, smiling at his insecurities as she got two beers from the bar and placed once on the table for him as she sat next to him. "Here you go Rude."

"Don't "Here you go Rude" me!" He said annoyed as he took another drink of his beer.

Tifa took a drink of her beer as she raised an eyebrow at him. "What's the matter Rude?"

"You know what's wrong! Those men were dancing way to close to you!" He said as he looked around the room glaring at the men. Some of whom weren't doing their best to hide the hungry look in their eyes as they looked at her. "They were touching you too low on your body! Don't they have any manners at all?"

Tifa laughed loudly as she took his hand. "Rude, you are so adorable when you're jealous!"

"I'm _not_ jealous." He said, glaring at one of the men in particular.

Tifa laughed again, and pulled his face to hers. "Rude, we were dancing at least a foot away from each other. They never once touched me at all! It was just innocent dancing."

"Not from what I could see." He said taking a swig of his beer.

Tifa sighed and then stood up, finishing her beer. "Well there is only one way to solve this problem."

"Good, we're going back to the room then."

Tifa shook her head and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. "No, _you_ are going to dance with _me_ for the rest of the night. That way everyone in this bar knows that I'm your girl."

Rude sighed as Tifa dragged him out onto the dance floor. "Do I have to?" He asked.

Tifa just smiled at him. "Please Rude? Cloud never took me dancing. I want to know what it's like, dancing with someone that I really care about."

Rude looked at her for a few moments, not knowing if she was trying to manipulate him or not. "Alright fine Tifa. You win."

Tifa squealed with happiness as she pulled Rude on to the dance floor as a slower song started. It was a slow song about two people finding something close to paradise. She closed her eyes and she laid her head against his chest.

Rude blushed a little, nervously leading Tifa around on the dance floor; happily holding her close to him. He glanced across the room, noting that Reno was too busy hitting on a girl to notice them. "Tifa?"

"Hmm?" She asked, not wanting to spoil the moment, by moving her head.  
Rude just smiled down at her and shook his head. "Never mind. It can wait til later." He said, holding her tightly as they continued dancing.

* * *

Tifa and Rude danced together until it was time for the bar to close, neither of them paying much attention to the others around them. When they realized that they were the last ones in the bar, Tifa looked around blushing, not realizing how late it was. "Hey Rude?"

"Hmm?"

"I think the bar closed."

Rude looked away from Tifa, a bit surprised. "Huh, would you look at that?"

"Time just flew by." She looked at him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you Rude, for dancing with me."

"I think this was the first time that I've actually enjoyed dancing. Thank you Tifa."

"It was my pleasure, Rude." She whispered.

Rude looked around at the empty bar and sighed, hating for the evening to end. "I guess we should head back to our room."

Tifa nodded, "We'll need all of our energy if we're going swimming tomorrow!"

Rude moaned inwardly, hoping that Tifa wouldn't remember. "You're still keeping your promise right?"

"I promise if your sunglasses get broken you can borrow mine."

Rude nodded, "Fine. Then we can go swimming tomorrow." He said, taking her hand and leading her out of the bar.

* * *

Rude was awoken in the middle of the night by a scream. He quickly put his sunglasses on and looked around, dazed and concerned. He flipped the light on and saw Tifa lying in the bed across from his; she looked to be in the middle of a nightmare. Rude quickly got up and went to her bed, shaking her gently. "Tifa. Tifa, wake up!"

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and looked around, confused, but when she saw Rude she hugged him tightly, crying into his bare chest. "Rude…Rude…" She said sobbing.

"Shh. It's okay Tifa. It's okay." He said as he began to stroke her hair. "I'm right here Tifa. Everything is okay. It was just a dream."

Tifa just sobbed harder. "He was gone. He was gone."

Rude moaned inwardly, she was dreaming of him. After the wonderful night they had spent together, he was still on her mind. – I swear if he ever comes back I'm going to kill him!- He thought as he continued to stroke his hair. "Tell me what happened Tifa."

"Cloud was gone, the Bahamut attacked him."

-Hmm. That has potential. I wonder where I could get that Summon Materia?-

"But then I was getting overwhelmed by something and you pushed me out of the way to save me! I couldn't get to you, you were being _hurt_! And I couldn't save you! They were going to _kill_ you! I couldn't save you!" She sobbed even harder.

Rude was taken aback by the turn of her dream. He had to admit he was a bit shocked, Tifa was crying because he was dying. Did that mean? He shook his head, not daring to hope. Rude just kissed her forehead as he continued to stroke her hair. "It's okay Tifa, look, I'm here and I'm okay. See? Nothing's hurt me."

Tifa looked up at him, her eyes red with tears. "Promise?"

Rude gave her a smile, wiping her tears away. "I promise, nothing's going to take me away from you. Okay?"

Tifa nodded sleepily as she laid her head on his chest and held him tighter. "Hold me please." She whispered as she began to fall back to sleep.

"With pleasure." He said, kissing her forehead again, feeling himself drifting back off to sleep as well.

* * *

Tifa awoke the next morning, feeling completely relaxed and content. She kept her eyes closed as she smiled and stretched a bit. Her eyes opened with a start as she felt muscles underneath her hand. She gasped loudly as she saw a topless Rude lying next to her, with his sunglasses on, she couldn't tell if he was asleep or not.. –So he wears his sunglasses when he sleeps? That's odd.- She blushed a bit as she took him in, he was absolutely gorgeous, she hesitantly reached out and ran her finger down his chest and to his abs. – Oh my….-

Rude moaned a little and moved away from her touch. "Go away Reno. I'm not ready to get up."

Tifa giggled as she watched him some more. –Poor guy, he just can't get away from Reno can he? - She shook her head as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. She then stood up and stretched a bit, letting him sleep a bit longer as she got ready for her day.

* * *

Rude rolled on to his side, his arm seeking Tifa's warm body, when he couldn't find her he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "What?"

"Good morning Rude!" Tifa said loudly.

Rude moaned a little, covering his already covered eyes with his arm. "It's too early for this."

Tifa giggled as she sat on the bed next to him, moving his arm. "Come on Rude! It's a beautiful day out! You promised we'd go to the beach!"

Rude sighed and looked at Tifa; she was already wearing her swimsuit, with her towel tied around her waist like a skirt. His mouth fell open as he just stared at her. "Wow Tifa, you look amazing."

Tifa blushed a little as she turned around once. "Do you think so?"

Rude nodded, his throat feeling very dry all of a sudden.

Tifa grinned brightly, "Well thank you sweetie! Now hurry up! Get dressed! I wanna get down there before-"

* * *

Tifa and Rude both jumped as the door suddenly burst open, revealing Reno, wearing a towel and a huge grin. "Mornin' lovebirds! Let's get movin'! The beaches are open and all the women are waiting to get a piece of _this_!" He said, gesturing to his body.

"….Reno wakes up." Tifa finished annoyed.

Rude sighed as he stood up and stretched. "Yeah, yeah. Cause every woman wants a piece of you Reno." Rude grabbed his swimsuit and headed into the bathroom.

"Of course! Every woman wants me!"

"Well _I_ don't." Tifa said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah well, there's something wrong with you then, if you don't want me."

"You saying there's something wrong with my girlfriend?" Rude growled from the bathroom.

"Obviously there is if she's dating you bro." Reno said grinning. "Come on Tifa, why don't you dump baldy for a few hours. I can show you what a _real_ man is like." He said giving her a wink.

"I'll tell you want Reno, when I find a real man I'll let you know." She teased.

Rude opened the door and came out, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. He hated the fact that he was almost naked. He could feel a draft all over his body. The only plus side was that he was able to find a pair of black swim trunks. "Alright, I'm ready to head down to the beach." He muttered as he grabbed his towel.

"Oh look! I found a real man Reno! How about that?" Tifa teased, grabbing his arm and pulling him down the hall.

"Oh come on! That's low Tifa!" Reno called as he ran after them.

* * *

Reno beat them down to the beach and then quickly ran to the water, heading over to the girl he was chatting with at the bar last night.

Tifa laid her towel out as Rude grabbed a chair and positioned it just right under an umbrella. Rude had made a mental note of each child at the beach, how far away they were from him and their potential threat level. He did the same thing with the people who were playing volleyball half way down the beach.

"Eww! Is that…." She asked as she picked up an article of clothing.

"That would be Reno's swimsuit." He said, adding Reno to his watch list, making sure to keep an extra eye out for him.

"That's gross!" She said as she threw it away from her. "How can he be swimming here naked?! That's against the rules!"

Rude gave a noncommittal shrug. "When have the rules stopped Reno before?" He asked as he sat down in his chair and got himself comfortable.

"Yeah. I guess that's true." She said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a green materia. She held it in her hands for a few moments as it glowed and covered her, she then put it back in her bag with a nod.

Rude raised his eyebrow at her. "What was that?"

"Barrier. I have to protect myself from getting sunburned. What better way than using materia?"

"That seems like it's a waste of the materia though."

"Not really. When was the last time I got in a fight and needed it?" Tifa then stood up and stretched, loving the feel of the sun on her face. "Say Rude, before we go swimming can we have some sex on the beach?"

Rude looked up at her shocked, as he fell out of his chair. "W-what?"

"I want some sex on the beach. I always have sex on the beach before I swim!"

-Crap. Did I bring condoms? I don't think I did. I honestly didn't expect this. I should ask Reno. Reno always has a box or two of condoms on him. But if I ask him, I'll have to go into the water. Maybe I can just sneak into his room and steal some? He wouldn't notice if I took one or two right?- Rude shook his head for a second. "Tifa…..I think sex on the beach is illegal in Costa."

She peered at him with the most innocent look she could muster. "But…all it is is some peach schnapps, vodka, and cranberry juice. Why would that be illegal?"

Rude mentally face-palmed as he realized what she really wanted.

"I'll go check because I swear I got it the last time I was here…." Tifa ventured off towards the drink stand.

* * *

"This day is _perfect_!" Tifa walked down to the shore and stood in the waves. "Brr! The water is cold!"

"That's why I'm going to stay right up here. You enjoy the cold water."

"Fine I will!" She said as tied her hair back into a ponytail and then dove into the water.

Rude sighed, shaking his head, settling himself in for a nice quiet nap.

* * *

After awhile of swimming by herself Tifa started to get bored, she was tempted to join Reno, but then she remember his swimsuit laying on the beach and that quickly changed her mind. –I wish Rude would come in here with me. We had a good time dancing last night.- She thought as she began to float on her back. -I just have to convince him that to join me.- She thought for a few moments and then grinned as she made her way to him.

Rude sighed as he relaxed in the sun. It had been about an hour and his sunglasses were still safe, the kids kept their distance from him and Reno was nowhere to near him to annoy him. It was a very relaxing day.

"Say Rude?"

"Hmm?" He asked, his eyes still closed.

"What would happen if you were to get very wet all of a sudden?"

"I would be very upset that I got wet."

"Okay. Just wondering."

Rude sighed as he continued to relax under the warm sun, until he hard the sound of something coming at him. He opened his eyes just in time to see Tifa throwing a bucket of water at him. He was completely drenched from head to toe with freezing water. He just looked at her shocked and hurt. "Tifa…"

"Oh would you look at that? Clumsy me, I was just helping these kids make a sandcastle and the water just threw its self out of my hands."

"Tifa that's not fair! I was warm and dry and relaxing! Now I'm cold and wet! I hate being cold!"

Tifa giggled, "Well that means now that you are wet you'll just have to join me in the water then!"

Rude shook his head. "That means that I'm going to stay up here until I get dry. Then I am going back up to the hotel room for the rest of the day, where it's nice and safe. And dry!"

Tifa pouted a little, "Well fine then. I'll just go swim with Reno. At least he'll know how to have fun at the beach."

He looked at her, sunglasses falling down his face. "You'd swim with Reno?! But he's naked! And in the water!"

Tifa nodded, crossing her arms. "Yup. And he's hitting on a girl who looks to be a bit too young for him. We should stop him."

Rude rolled his eyes. "It wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last."

Tifa thought for a second, running out of options. "Yeah well the girls' parents might kill Reno!"

Rude shrugged as he sat himself down. "Reno's a big boy, he can handle himself."

Tifa sighed scratching her head. "Fine Rude. I give up. I guess you'd rather be sitting in a boring room the entire time. I'm going back down to the water, by myself." She said sadly, slowly walking back down to the shore and sitting down, head in her arms. .

-Tifa's down by the water, where it's wet. Not to mention all the children playing, all the beach balls flying in the air! There are plenty of opportunities for my sunglasses to get broken! But it's Tifa, the girl of my dreams, in her _swimsuit_! Down by the water…..where it's wet. And it's dangerous! My sunglasses are going to get broken!- He sighed as he ran his hand against his head, once again wishing that he had hair. –Tifa or my sunglasses…Tifa or my sunglasses…- He looked around at all the dangers and then at Tifa, who seemed to be very upset. He quickly calculated how best to get by the dangers and nodded. –Okay, I think I can do this, I just gotta be quick.- He took a few steps back and then began to run, dodging the children playing and holding his arm up to protect his face from a beach ball. He then jumped in the air and landed by Tifa.

Tifa looked up as she saw Rude land beside her, he looked terrified, but she was glad that he was there. "Rude! I was worried you would go back to the room!" She grinned as she hugged him tightly.

Rude took a big breath of relief. –Made it down to the ocean with my sunglasses still in one piece!- He hugged Tifa back. "Well I couldn't have you swimming with Reno. Who knows what he would've tried to pull?"

Tifa giggled, "He would have tried to get me drunk, tried to sleep with me, or perhaps both."

"That's why I came down here. Someone has to keep you from destroying buildings by punching Reno." He teased.

Tifa stuck her tongue out at him as she then splashed him with water.

Rude looked at her, shocked. "Oh so that's how it's going to be?" He then stood up and then quickly picked Tifa up in his arms.

Tifa blushed as Rude held her. –This feels so nice. I could get used to this.-

Rude then walked into the water until his knees were covered; wincing with each step he took. -This water is freezing! How do people swim in this?-

"Rude…what are you doing? Tifa asked, holding onto him tighter.

"Well you seem to think its okay getting me completely soaked, so I think it's time to repay the favor." He stated.

Tifa squealed a little bit holding onto him tighter. "No! No! Please don't do it Rude!"

Rude laughed a little, "Are you sorry?"

Tifa nodded her head hard. "Yes! I'm very _very_ sorry!"

Rude laughed again, "Will you never do it again?"

"I'll never ever do it again! I promise! Just don't drop me!"

"Okay. I won't _drop_ you." Rude said.

Tifa took a sigh of relief as she relaxed her grip on him. "Good."

"But _throwing_ you is fair game." He said as he threw her into the water.

Tifa gave a small scream before she hit the cold water. She swam up to the surface and towards him, where she floated annoyed. "You said you wouldn't do that!"

Rude just laughed and looked down at her. "No, I said I wouldn't drop you. Throwing and dropping are two different things!"

Tifa pouted and then splashed him annoyed, "Oh you!"

"Now you're going to get it Tifa." He said as he dove into the water and saw after her.

"Eep!" Tifa said as she quickly swam away from him, surprised at how fast a swimmer he was.

* * *

"Do you give up?" Rude asked as he grabbed her hands.

"No way! I'm not giving up!" She said as she struggled to break free, then she could swim away from him, into deeper waters, where she would have a better chance.

"Oh really? Are you sure you aren't going to give up?" He asked as moved to pick her up and throw her again.

"Okay! Okay! I give up! I give up! You win! Just please don't throw me!" She said, as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact.

Rude grinned, kissing her temple. "Good. Now we'd better be getting out if we want to make our reservations for dinner."

Tifa opened her eyes and asked eagerly, "Reservations?"

"Of course, reservations. Did you think I was going to make you eat bar food?"

Tifa hugged him around his neck. "Oh Rude, you're the best!" She said as she swam back to the shore.

Rude just shook his head, making sure that Reno was completely busy before heading back to shore himself. –I don't want Reno to somehow spoil this perfect dinner I have planned for her. I made these reservations weeks ago! I want everything to be perfect for tonight.-

* * *

Tifa quickly showered and changed into her dress as she walked back into the room, adjusting her earrings.

Rude watched her walk out, stopping as he was tying his tie. He looked her over and blushed a bit, clearing his throat with a small cough.

Tifa blushed and looked down at her feet embarrassed, running a finger through her hair. "It's too much isn't it? It's an old dress."

Rude looked her over and smiled. "Tifa, you look absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you Rude. You look handsome as well." She said, as she helped him to fix his tie. "So where are we having dinner at?"

"It's called Villa Cloud." He said hesitantly, worried about her reaction.

"Really? Villa Cloud?! That's amazing!" She grinned happily as she checked her work.

"You…aren't upset?" He asked as he straightened his tie.

Tifa shook her head eagerly. "No way! After we stopped Jenova we agreed to sell it to the current owners! They apparently did a major overhaul of it! I can't wait to see what it looks like how! I'm even the one who gave it its slogan, 'Your own little slice of Heaven.' This is the best place you could've picked Rude!" She gushed.

"Well I'm glad you approve." He looked down at his watch. "Well, we've got just enough time to make it for our reservations." He said as he offered her his arm.

Tifa giggled a little as she took his arm. "Why thank you Rude."

* * *

"I'm sorry sir, but we are completely booked right now." The Maitre D' said, wringing his hands together.

Rude looked at him, completely shocked. "B-but..We have reservations. I made them a few weeks ago!"

"Well we just had a customer book the entire place for a private party. He paid the entire amount up front in gil too. We just couldn't pass that up."

Tifa looked at him upset, "But I'm the one who gave this place its slogan! I was one of the people who sold this place to you! We should be able to get in!"

"I am very sorry Miss, but he did pay upfront in gil. If you have a problem you can take it up with a D. Nation." He said, reading the name from a card.

-D. Nation? Who on Earth is that?- Rude wondered as he sighed.

Tifa looked down dejectedly. "Okay, thanks very much."

Rude gulped nervously. –Okay Rude. Hurry up and think! This is NOT going the way you planned it! Okay, how do we fix this? It's gotta be something really romantic. But what can take the place of the most romantic restaurant in town? Where would Tifa want to eat instead? Not the bar, she probably gets enough bar food at 7th Heaven. I know, but it's going to involve getting your suit very dirty. Just suck it up for now Rude. This is for Tifa! Hopefully you'll be able to save the suit.- He thought.

Tifa sighed again as she slowly walked away. –Great, I guess its back to the hotel room for the rest of the evening and this day was going so wonderful too.- She sighed again, "So where are we going for dinner?"

"Well I was thinking that since you enjoyed the time we spent at the beach earlier, why don't we have dinner down at the beach?"

Tifa's eyes grew wide as she smiled at him. "Really Rude? Oh I'd love to eat down at the beach, as long as you don't mind getting your suit dirty."

Rude smiled, her reaction was worth his suit getting dirty. "Alright, we'll just have to pick up a few things first." He said, taking her arm and leading her away.

* * *

Tifa sipped her glass of wine and sighed happily, watching as the sun began to set, turning the ocean a pale pink. "Oh Rude, this is so romantic." She said as she leaned up against him. "Everything thing is perfect."

Rude smiled down at her, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm glad you think so. It's pretty nice out here, especially when there's nobody around to-"

Before he could finish his sentence a volleyball came flying and hit Rude right on the face, making a loud crunching noise.

"Oh no Rude!" Tifa said as she threw the volleyball back at the teens. "Hey jerks! Watch what the hell you're doing next time! You could've hurt someone!" Tifa quickly knelt back down and looked at Rude. "Sweetie are you okay?" She asked, looking at him worriedly.

Rude was shocked as he slowly pulled his sunglasses down from his face and held them in front of him as the lenses began to crack and break. "My sunglasses...they broke my sunglasses…" He said sadly, looking like a hurt puppy.

Tifa just looked at him, mouth open. She couldn't believe it. She was looking at his eyes. "Rude…." She couldn't think of any words that could describe the color of them. It was a color somewhere between honey and melted chocolate. She could feel herself melting as she looked at him.

Rude just looked at his broken sunglasses, completely depressed that they had to break. He looked up at noticed Tifa was staring at him. "Tifa? Did you bring the sunglasses down with you?" He asked worriedly, looking around for where she might have put them.

Tifa held them out in her hand, "Rude, I have a request before you put the sunglasses back on."

Rude grabbed them quickly, "What is it Tifa?" He asked pausing as he began to place them on his head.

Tifa looked at him for a few more minutes before she leaned over and kissed him on his lips. "Okay, you can put them back on now."

Rude just looked at her, stunned at what just happened. –She kissed me. Tifa….kissed me.- He just smiled at her, not really knowing how to reply to that.

Tifa looked down at her feet embarrassed. "Sorry, I just didn't want our first kiss to be while you were wearing your sunglasses. The moment just seemed perfect for it."

Rude continued smiling at her, "So did you plan the ball getting thrown at me too? Did you have a back-up plan incase that didn't work?"

Tifa giggled behind her hand. "You're just too adorable Rude. I love you." She said kissing his cheek.

Rude felt his heart skip a few beats, he wasn't certain that he had heard her correctly. –Did she just say what I think she said?- He blinked a few times at Tifa and finally found his voice, "W-What did you say?"

Tifa giggled again. "You silly Turk, I said that I love you."

Rude smiled down at her as he took her in his arms again, "I love you too Tifa." He whispered as he kissed her on her lips.

* * *

When the sun had set Tifa and Rude made their way back to their hotel room, each of them completely happy at what had happened and also a bit shocked. Rude held Tifa's hand tightly in his and kept looking down at her as they made their way into their room.

Tifa blushed as she looked up at him and opened their door. "Say Rude?"

"Yes Tifa?" He asked as he placing his hand on her cheek.

"Will you sleep with me again tonight?"

"Of course I will Tifa, you know I'd do anything for you. I love you." He said as he kissed her on her lips again.

Tifa felt her knees grow weak as he kissed her. She put her arms around his shoulders as she kissed him back. She hated to have to pull away, but she did. "I'll go take a shower and change real quick, and then we can sleep." She said as she quickly ran into the bathroom and closed the door. She couldn't help the squeal of delight that escaped her lips as soon as the door closed.

Rude just chuckled as he looked himself over, right now, he didn't care that his suit was covered in sand. He didn't care that he lost yet another pair of sunglasses. Tifa loved him, she kissed him. He was really glad that he took this trip with her, nothing could spoil this moment right now.

* * *

"So you're going to sleep with her tonight huh?" Reno asked as he closed the door behind him.

"Reno how long have you been there?" He asked, not particularly caring at the moment.

"I've been here awhile. So you're sleeping with her huh?" He asked walking up to him.

Rude rolled his eyes as he took off his suit jacket and tie and hung them up. "She had a nightmare last night. I just held her until she fell asleep."

"Yeah sure, I'm not that stupid Rude." He said rolling his eyes. "You guys are totally going to have sex. So how did your evening go? It sucks about you not being able to eat at Villa Cloud."

"It went really we…wait, how did you know we weren't able to get a Villa Cloud?" He asked turning to glare at him.

Reno just grinned, crossing his arms. "I booked the entire place. I entertained a few females in there. I gotta tell ya Rude, you sure do know how to pick really romantic places. The place was perfect for a date."

Rude blinked at him a few times. "You booked the entire place? You're D. Nation?"

"Yeah, just don't tell the boss that I used Dark Nation's name to book it. I don't think he'd be very happy with that."

Rude just smiled at him. "Thank you Reno! Thank you very much."

"Yeah, yeah. I know, no piz…wait you thanked me? Why?" Reno asked, suddenly very worried.

"Turns out having dinner on the beach during sunset is a really romantic dinner. She told me she loved me." Rude said, still in awe over the incident.

"What?!" He asked, nearly falling over.

"She said she loves me. Now if you don't mind, I would like to be alone with the woman I love." Rude said as he opened the door and pushed him out, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Reno stalked down to his room angrily. How did his plan completely backfire on him like that?! There is no way that their day could have ended like that. He moaned annoyed. –There's no way I'm loosing my best friend to her! We're going to have to do something about this and quick!- He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "We gotta do something drastic; they said they loved each other. We gotta break 'em apart. _Soon_!" He then angrily hung up his phone and threw it against the wall. –Now what?-


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

((AN: Hey everyone! My finger's doing a bit better! So here's a new chapter for you all! Enjoy it and please leave me a review or two! It'll be a great present for me! Happy Holidays everyone! Oh and just as a warning, there is some slight language in this chapter! ))

* * *

"I'm not going to be the one who tells her! You know how she feels about him!"

"Someone's got to tell her!"

"Well it's not gonna be me!" Yuffie said, looking at Barret and crossing her arms.

Barret sighed, rubbing the back of his head with his human arm. "Well how about this, I found some good materia the other day."

"Oh no! You aren't pulling that one on me again! You already owe me materia for the next two years!"

Barret sighed a little, looking down. "Damn. Thought it'd work again!"

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him. "In all seriousness, I don't understand why you're having such a problem with this!"

Barret stood up suddenly, knocking the chair over. "You know damn well why I have a problem with this!"

Yuffie stood her ground and continued to glare at him. "I don't see why I have to be the one who does this! She's still mad at me from before!"

"But she'll understand if it's coming from you Yuffie! You're a girl!"

"You're just being sexist! If you're so damned concerned _you_ talk to her! I'm _not_ doing this again to her!"

Barret sighed annoyed, rubbing his head again. "The hell am I supposed to do?"

* * *

"Alright everyone! Now that we're all here, we can get this meeting started!" Reno said, standing at the head of the table.

Rufus sighed annoyed, shaking his head. "Seeing as how _I'm_ the President of ShinRa, _I_ should be the who calls any meetings. Or did you become President while I wasn't looking?"

Tseng nodded. "I agree sir." He turned to look at Reno. "So what's the supposed emergency this time Reno?"

"This is a serious emergency! This concerns the future of the Turks!"

Rufus interlaced his fingers and looked up at Reno, mildly interested. "Oh?"

"Yes sir boss. I wouldn't be callin' this meeting if I wasn't 100% serious!" He said as he slammed his hands on the table.

"Well, well. I have to say I am surprised. I don't think I've ever seen you this serious before Reno. Did you and Rude switch personalities while I wasn't looking?" Rufus asked, continuing to look at Reno.

"It's about Rude and his relationship with Tifa." Elena said softly, looking up from her seat.

Reno moaned a bit. "Laney! I was going to tell him! Thanks a lot! As the rookie said, this is about Rude! And the mission he's doing!"

"Last I heard he had just taken Tifa to one of her favorite places, correct?" Rufus asked, glancing over at Tseng.

"Yes sir. He said that it was going to be a bit harder than he thought to get the information from her."

"Psh!" Reno threw his hands in the air. "Yeah right! I don't think he's even trying boss! He's gone over to her place a lot, but I don't think that they're talkin' about Avalanche. I don't think they're doin' much talkin' at all. Y'know after all the dates they've had, Rude hasn't mentioned AVALANCHE once."

"Just cause _you've_ never had someone that you cared about Reno, doesn't mean that Rude can't care for Tifa like he does." Elena said.

Reno rolled his eyes at her. "Sure rookie. Cause you're doing so well catching Tseng's attention."

Elena quickly looked down at her lap, not wanting to meet Tseng's eyes.

Tseng, however, was completely oblivious to Reno's statement. "Hmm. I do think this is strange sir. It has been over 3 months since he started this mission. Rude is a Turk, you'd think that he'd have something by now."

Rufus looked at the others for a few moments, contemplating what they were saying. "You have a point Tseng. He should've reported in with something by now. Reno, find Rude and bring him up here. I want to have a little…chat with him."

Reno smiled eagerly as he nodded. "Alright! I'll bring him right up!" Reno quickly ran to the door, slamming it behind him.

Elena hesitantly looked up at Rufus, "Umm, boss? Are you sure that you want to confront Rude about this? He really does care about Tifa. There has to be a reason he hasn't gotten any information yet."

Rufus gave her a harsh look. "Elena, I gave him a mission. He hasn't succeeded in it yet. That's very sloppy on his part. It doesn't matter if he cares for her or not. I expect more from my employees, you should know that by now. If Rude isn't up to the task, then we'll just have to find someone else who is. Personal feelings have no place at ShinRa. Do you understand?"

"Yes boss." Elena said as she looked back down at her hands.

* * *

The lunch rush had just ended and Tifa was cleaning up the bar. She kept looking at her phone, Rude had promised to give her a call, to let her know if he was going to be able to join her for a quick lunch. She put her rag down as she sighed happily, leaning against the bar. She began to daydream a little, but quickly shook her head when she heard the door open. "Sorry, but we're closed right now!" She said as she turned away, hoping the customer didn't see how embarrassed she was. "But we'll open up again after 6!"

"What about some drinks for old friends?"

Tifa turned around and smiled bit, seeing Yuffie, Barrett and Cid walk in. She noted that Cid looked really embarrassed to be there. She was even more surprised to see Vincent come in a few seconds later, looking thoroughly awkward. Tifa began to pull out some glasses and pour drinks for everyone. "Here ya go guys! They're on the house."

Vincent sat at the bar, shaking his head as he looked over at the others and glared at them a bit, he looked up at Tifa a bit confused as she placed a glass of red liquid in front of him. "What is this supposed to be?"

Tifa just smiled at him. "Well I don't have any blood for you, so I figured red wine would be a good replacement for you. It's dark enough right?"

Vincent sighed, placing his clawed hand on his head. "Why do you people think that I'm a vampire?"

"Cause when we found you, you were sleeping in a coffin." Barret said taking a large drink of his beer.

"That and you have this aversion to sunlight, or anything resembling sunlight." Yuffie said as she toyed nervously with the materia in her hand.

Vincent groaned lightly. "That's because I was asleep for almost 50 years. You would avoid sunlight too."

"Yeah, I'm still surprised that you were able to sleep with all the stuff that was going on. I mean, Sephiroth _was_ in the same part of the house as you, the two of you were even in the same room for a bit! How'd you miss that?" Tifa commented as she finished pouring drinks.

"I was too busy trying to atone for my sins."

"Just admit it, you're a vampire." Yuffie said as she stirred her drink with her spoon.

Barret shook his head, "Look that ain't why we came here! We aren't here to debate whether or not the vampire is a damn vampire!"

"For the last time, I'm _not_ a vampire!"

Tifa raised her eyebrow at them as she leaned against the bar. "Yeah, why are you all here?"

"What, we can't just say hi to an old friend we haven't seen in awhile?" Yuffie asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

Tifa raised her eyebrow again as she looked at Yuffie. "Really now? I know that Vincent hardly ever comes out when the problem doesn't involve him. No offense Vincent. Now, what's wrong?"

"I told you that she wouldn't be fooled Barret! I just wanna let you know Tifa, I was totally against this from the start!" Yuffie said, as she picked up her materia again and began to run her fingers over it, obsessively.

"Against what Yuffie? Cid? Somebody tell me what's going on."

Cid sighed and placed his drink on the table. "I ain't sayin' a thing this time. You gotta ask Barret, he's the one with the issues."

Tifa turned to Barret and glared at him. "Let me guess, you have an issue with me dating."

Barret shook his head. "Not with you datin' in general. Just with you datin' that Turk."

* * *

"I think the interrogation room is a bit much." Elena said, as she watched as Reno dragged Rude into the room.

"Nonsense, it's never too much. Reno and Tseng will get him to talk. We have to get to the bottom of this."

"Well I still think this whole thing is just wrong." Elena muttered.

* * *

Rude calmly sat in the seat, looking up and Reno and Tseng. "So, is there a reason why I'm in here?"

"It's come to our attention that you've been lying to us Rude." Tseng said calmly, sitting in the seat opposite him.

Rude raised an eyebrow at him, urging him to elaborate.

"You know what we're talkin' about! This whole "relationship" you're in!" Reno said, slamming his hands down on the table. "You aren't doin' the mission right, yo!"

"What's wrong with the way I'm doing my mission?"

"It's been over three months since you started this mission. Your mission was to woo Tifa in order to get information about AVALANCHE and their oil field."

"I'm working on it." Rude said calmly.

"I'm sure having lots of sex with Tifa is getting lots of information from her." Reno said with a roll of his eyes.

"For your information, Reno, I'm not like you. I don't sleep with woman in order to get information. I have my own way of doing things. The closest I've seen Tifa naked is when we were at Costa. " Rude gave Reno a glare. "Getting information is harder than it looks."

* * *

"What's wrong with him?" Tifa asked, crossing her arms.

Barret looked over at Vincent. "Tell her."

Vincent sighed again, "This is ridiculous."

"Jus' do it fool!" Barret said, slamming his hand down.

"The Turks are nothing but bad news. They are bad guys. They don't care about anybody else. They kidnap and kill people. They force woman to use their unborn children in scientific experiments. They turn you into abominations and make you sleep in coffins." Vincent stated, completely bored with the entire proceedings.

"And they try to destroy the planet! They also dropped a plate on Sector 7, killing thousands of people! They killed Biggs, Wedge and Jessie! You _do_ remember what they did to Cloud? An' your hometown?"

Tifa slammed her fists on the bar angrily. "Yes Barret. I was there when it happened! I helped to prevent it! Don't you dare try and bring Cloud into this! Nibelhiem wasn't ShinRa or the Turks doing! That was Sephiroth's fault! And it was sort of our fault that Sector 7 was destroyed! They were trying to kill us! In fact, I don't remember the Turks doing much to us besides throwing us in jail and attacking us a few times! Hell they destroyed one of the planets weapons and tried to save the damn planet by destroying Meteor! Did you also forget that they _did_ evacuate the Slums to save the people below, including your daughter! Or did _you_ forget _that_? And when the Remnats attacked Edge, Reno and Rude fought Yazoo and Loz, or did that slip your mind Barret?"

"You're doin' a fine job defending them Tifa. Did they convince you to join their side?"

Tifa's eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "How…DARE….you Barret!" She said, venom filling her words. "I'd never betray AVALANCHE like that! I know how to keep my work life and my private life separate!"

* * *

"Tifa hasn't exactly been…forthcoming with information. Whenever we are out and I try to get information from her, there is always_someone_ around us." He said, giving a pointed look at Reno. "It would be much more productive to the mission if I didn't have all these strays following me all the time."

Tseng considered this for a few moments. "Point taken. Reno, you are forbidden to follow Rude around on his dates! If I catch wind of you trying to screw up his mission, you will be grounded for 6 months. Is that clear?"

"Grounded? What am I, 5?" Reno asked, indignantly.

"Grounded as in no flying the whirlybird, Reno. We all believe here at ShinRa that our employees are physically and mentally above the legal working age." Rufus stated.

Reno gasped. "But El Presidente, I…"

"Not buts Reno." Tseng turned back to look at Rude. "You have 2 weeks to report back with something, otherwise we will assign someone else to the mission. Understood?"

Rude nodded once. "Understood Director. Am I allowed to leave now?"

Tseng nodded. "Yes, just remember, two weeks."

"Yes.." Rude said with a nod as he stood up and walked out of the room. -I'm going to have to tell her soon. I don't know how much longer I can lie to her.- He thought as he walked out of ShinRa and towards 7th Heaven.

* * *

"So I guess we should be lookin' for another bar us to drink at." Barret said, toying with his beer bottle.

Tifa raised her eyebrow at him. "What on Gaia are you talking about?"

"It's only a matter of time til you get too close to him and give up our secrets. Might as well have your boyfriend get you an application now. I'm sure they'd love to have an ex-member of AVALANCHE in their numbers. Then this place'll become a hang out for ShinRa members, won't catch me anywhere near this place then."

"Barret-" Yuffie began, glancing over at the hurt expression on Tifa's face.

"Ain't no way I'm gonna trust those ShinRa goons! Not after all they've done! They got too much blood on their hands. Myra, Dyne, Eleanor. Corel."

"That was Scarlet who did that! _She_ was the one who killed everyone in your hometown! And she was acting under _President_Shrina's orders. Not Rufus, his father's. His father was the one who wanted to destroy the world with Mako Energy."

"Oh so you're on a first name basis with the President? You're defending ShinRa so damn quickly Tifa."

"Maybe because I would like to try and put the past behind us? Maybe I'm not the only one who noticed that ShinRa is _trying_ to atone for their sins! Just like we are!"

Barret slammed his fists on the table. "Don't you dare compare us to those ShinRa bastards! Look Tifa, I'm just gonna tell you this, you need to end it with that Turk."

"His name is Rude."

"I don't give a damn what his name is! He's the enemy! He's nuthin' but bad news! He don't care about you Tifa! Turks don't care about nobody but themselves! He's just usin' you! Soon as he get what he wants, he's just gonna throw you aside! One of these days you're gonna find everything of yours sorted through!"

Tifa glared at him, eyes watering in anger. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to this! You all can stay here and finish your drinks. Marlene has a key, just have her lock up after you leave." Tifa threw her rag down and stormed out of the bar.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea Barret! You've really pissed her off now!" Tifa heard Yuffie say as she threw open the door.

Rude was standing outside of the bar, preparing to knock when he saw the door fly open. "Hey Tifa."

Tifa looked up at him, and smiled at bit. "Oh it's you! Just the Turk I wanted to see!" She said as she gave him a hug.

"Tifa, are you...crying?" Rude asked concerned, noting that she seemed upset.

Tifa just brushed her tears away with one hand. "Take me to the Golden Saucer."

Rude just looked at her confused, "What?"

"You heard me. The Golden Saucer. We're going there, now. I need to get away from certain people.." She said glancing at the bar.

"Are you okay?" He asked putting his hand on her face.

"I will be as soon as we are at the Golden Saucer and no, I don't feel up to talking about it right now. Just take me there. Please." She whispered, trying to get her emotions in check.

Rude nodded taking her hand and giving it a kiss. "Anything for you Tifa." He said as he led her to his chopper.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

(A/N: Here's the next chapter! I think that Rude is really a bit adorable when he's out of his element! Please keep reading and reviewing!)

* * *

Tifa spent the entire trip staring out the window. - I thought they were my friends. They should be happy that I'm happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. Do they want me to be drunk, depressed and mourning that Cloud may never return?- She sighed a little, shaking her head.

Rude glanced over at Tifa, concerned that she was being so quiet. He reached over and grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Do you need to talk about it? You know I'm a good listener."

Tifa just smiled a little, squeezing his hand back. "I'd rather not talk about it right now. It'd just piss me off and I don't want to break a window. Or the helicopter."

Rude nodded. "I appreciate that. I would hate to be stuck in the middle of the desert. I don't think I could take another suit covered in sand." He said, smiling a bit.

Tifa just sighed as she continued to look out the window.

Rude frowned a bit, usually Tifa would tease him about getting his suits dirty. He hated seeing Tifa like this. -No matter what, I have to make her smile today.-

* * *

Rude gulped nervously as the Gold Saucer appeared on the horizon. All he knew about it was that it was built over the ruins of Corel. He would be lying by saying that the building didn't intimidate him. Taking a deep breath, he landed the helicopter and helped Tifa out. "So...What exactly is this place?" Rude asked, looking at the building

"I guess you could say its an amusement park." She said as she dug in her pocket for her pass.

Rude gulped nervously, sweating a bit. "An amusement park..."

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "You know what that is right?"

"I know the theory of how they work."

"The theory? So you've never been to one?" She asked.

He shook his head once. "I always thought these places were for kids."

"Adults can enjoy them too. Especially the Gondola." She said bitterly.

Rude looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Something bad happen?"

"Well looking back on it now, it probably was the best thing that could've happened, but then yes, it was kinda bad."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

Tifa shook her head again. "Not right now. Just cause I'm already annoyed about other things."

Rude gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "Whenever you need to talk, just let me-"

"Hello there! And welcome to the Gold Saucer!" The attendant said as they walked up to the entrance. "Hey, I recognize you! Didn't you come here a few years ago with a spiky haired friend? Looks like the wrong side of a chocobo?"

Tifa rolled her eyes a bit. "Yes, that was us."

Rude laughed a bit under his breath, trying to cover it with a cough. -That's a pretty good description of his hair style actually.-

"Well anyway, we are having a special event at Event Square today that's just for couples! Last time we had this there was this cute couple that won it. Your friend was one of them. He had a cute girl with him too, said she was a flower seller. I wonder what happened to them? I bet they got married and had a buncha kids."

"We aren't interested in the event at all!" Tifa said a little too sharply as she shot the worker a look that could have killed him stone dead before dragging Rude in by the arm.

* * *

He stopped as they entered, the lights and sounds overwhelming him. "People willingly go here?"

Tifa nodded as she looked around at the different entrances. "Yup. You did."

"Only because I had no idea where we were going!" He said crossing his arms. "Does everybody on Gaia have no taste in music?"

Tifa giggled behind her hand. "Well not all of them listen to your kind of music." She stopped at one and nodded. "If I remember right, this is the one we want."

Rude's mouth nearly fell open. "W..Wonder Square? You aren't being serious right Tifa?" He asked hesitantly.

Tifa look at him and nodded once. "Dead serious." She said, as she gave him a look that was similar to the ones he gave Reno.

Rude sighed, placing one hand on his forehead. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the Battle Square? That sounds a lot more 'fun.'"

Tifa glared at him even more, causing the big man to back up nervously. "Wonder Square."

"Okay. We'll go to the Wonder Square." He said holding his hands up in surrender. "If that will make you happier, then we'll go there."

Tifa smiled up at him and took his hand. "Good! Now down the slide!" She said as she pulled him to the entrance.

"Down the what now?" He asked, eyes wide.

"You heard me, down the slide." She said as she pushed him down it.

* * *

Rude stood up, a bit dazed as he reached the bottom. He was completely confused by the whole process. -Whoever runs this place has a demented sense of humor.- He thought as he fixed his suit and waited for Tifa, shaking his head again.

Tifa landed with a small squeal of happiness as she stood up and smiled at him. "That was fun, wasn't it?" Her bad mood temporarily forgotten.

"That was supposed to be fun?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Tifa just shook her head at him. "Yeah most people love going down slides as kids. So if you don't think that's fun then Rude, what _do_ you do for fun? You've never been to an amusement park!" She asked, disbelievingly. "Do the Turks _ever_ get a chance to relax and have fun?"

Rude put his hand on his face and tapped his cheek with one finger. "I think the word may have been banned at ShinRa. The first President didn't tolerate anyone slacking off."

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "So Reno did actual work? That's very surprising. I thought he was deathly allergic to it."

Rude shook his head. "No. He's deathly allergic to cleaning. You should see how bad our place looks before I clean it."

"That'd be nice, I'd like to see your apartment someday." Tifa said softly.

Rude took her hand and smiled at her. "I'd like that too Tifa. You could come over one day and I could cook for you this time."

"I'd like that very much Rude." She said as she stood up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"Well lookie here! It's evray ones favorite lovebirds!" Cait Sith said as he suddenly appeared, bouncing over to them on his moogle.

Tifa lost her balance and fell backwards, but was then caught by Rude. "Cait Sith? What are you still doing here?"

"Imma fortune teller! Wha' else would I be doin'?" He asked, hitting her gently on the head with his megaphone.

"So this is where you sent him to meet up with Cloud? An amusement park? Why here, sir?" Rude asked, utterly bewildered that a high ranking ShinRa executive would willingly come here.

"Laddie, you need ta' learn ta' let your hair doun a bit."

Rude rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir. I'll get right on that. Soon as I can grow some." He muttered.

Tifa giggled behind her hand. "Well I'm glad to see at least one of us is still enjoying themselves." She said, scratching his ears affectionately.

"So lets get doun to it! I'va fortune for the two of ya!" He said as he smacked the moogle's head with his and it began to dance a bit, then he pulled out the fortune from the moogle's hand. "Alrigh' then, this one goes ta' Rude!"

Rude looked at Tifa, shaking his head. "Do I have to Tifa?"

Tifa nodded once. "Yes, just take it Rude! It's not _that _bad!" She leaned over and whispered, "Besides, most of them are just nonsense anyways! Ouch!" She said as she was hit on the head again with the megaphone..

Don' ya be doutin' the fortune's lassie! Now, read it!"

Rude rolled his eyes as he took the fortune. " 'Beware the man with red hair'? Seriously? That's my fortune? I already know this."

"I don' write this! The moogle picks 'em oot! Fine. Have another one then!" He said as he hit the moogle and it began to dance. He yanked the fortune out and handed it to Rude. "There ya go laddie."

" 'This story is about to become depressing' ?" Rude looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "What story?"

"Cait, I think you might've lost your touch a bit with some of these fortunes."

Cait Sith shook his head. "Don' you be doutin' lassie!" He said as he hit the moogle's head again as it began to dance again, he reached down and grabbed the fortune out of it's hand. "Alrigh' and this one is for you!"

Tifa smiled as she took the fortune. "Thanks Cait. 'Things are never what they seem'. Hmm."

"So those are sum interestin' fortunes. Maybe I'll follow the tw' of ya aroun' to see what happens." Cait said eagerly, jumping up and down on his moogle.

"No way! We aren't going through this again Cait! We're going now!" She said as she grabbed Rude's arm and pulled him away.

* * *

"Rude, welcome to Wonder Square." Tifa said, gesturing around the room. "This is the whole reason I wanted to come here today."

Rude looked around the room, mouth gaping at all the lights, cheery music and sounds. "_This_ is why you wanted to come here? Next time, warn me!"

Tifa rolled her eyes as she walked to the back room and stood in front of the game called 3-D Battler. "No, _this_ game is why I wanted to come here. The final fighter is nearly impossible beat. I'm not leaving until I've beaten him." She said as she pulled her gil out of her pocket and inserted it into the machine.

"What am I supposed to do then? Just watch you?" Rude said, crossing his arms.

Tifa sighed, a bit annoyed. "Rude, you're in an arcade! I'm sure you can keep yourself entertained!" She said as the game powered on.

Rude sighed for a bit as he watched Tifa fight for a few minutes. He noticed that she was wasting a lot of her energy with some of her attacks and was leaving herself vulnerable to easy attacks. -Whatever they said to her really made her upset. I've never seen her this distracted before. - He thought, shaking his head sadly. "Tifa, honey, relax. Breathe! You're letting your emotions control you!"

Tifa vaguely heard his words, but chose to ignore them. She was too busy wrapped up in her own thoughts to care. - How could they talk to me like that? I'd never betray AVALANCHE! I'd never join ShinRa, no matter how much I love Rude! Rude loves me! He wouldn't be doing all this if he didn't! They just don't want me to be happy! What do they want me to do? Be alone for the rest of my life, until Cloud decides to come home? I'm one of the saviors of the world! I'm allowed to have some happiness! So what if it's not with the guy they picked out for me? What right do they have? To decide who I can or can't be with? It's not like AVALANCHE and ShinRa are at war anymore! Why won't they understand? Rude's not a bad guy! He loves me! I know he does! He told me himself that he doesn't want any of AVALANCHE's secrets! Rude is a good guy! Why can't they see that? - She moaned a little as she let her guard down and got KO'd by a punch that she would have normally blocked. Tifa moaned angrily as the game ended. She picked up some more gil as the game started up again.

* * *

Rude decided that it was best to just leave Tifa alone and not get in her way, so he wandered around, looking lost and completely confused.

"Well hi there sir! Welcome to Wonder Square!" A young and overly eager worker said as she came up to him. "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

"Hmph. Not really." He said, not wanting to admit that he was out of his element.

"Well sir, since you look new here, why don't we start ya off with something basic?" She said as she lead him to a brightly lit game called Arm Wrestling Sumo. "This is one of our most basic games. Basically, you have to arm wrestle your opponents. Arm wrestling is when-"

"I know what arm wrestling is!" He said shortly.

"Well, I can obviously see that you, with arms like yours." She said as she looked him over, wondering what she'd never seen such a hot guy come before. "I'll leave you to it for a bit then! If you need any help, and I mean any help at all, just give me a holler, my name's Shelly! Course I do get off at 7, maybe you can tell me some things about arm wrestling." She said as she flipped her hair over her shoulders and batted her eyes a bit.

Rude just nodded, ignoring her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out some gil and stretched arms and he placed it into the machine and let it warm up.

* * *

A short time later, Rude was starting to get bored. He had done very well with the Arm Wrestling Sumo and won lots of GP from it. -Maybe Tifa'll use them for something. I'm not really sure what they can be used for?- He thought as he walked away from it. Shelly also came and tried to teach him how to play Super Dunk, with disastrous results, he nearly lost a pair of sunglasses and hit a few patrons while he was at it. He made his way to the back room, hoping to hide from Shelly, she was following him everywhere like a sick puppy. He was walking around when a game called Torpedo Attack caught his eye. He sat down at it and pulled his money out.

"Ah! I see you've found Torpedo Attack!" Shelly said as she came out from behind the machine.

Rude nearly fell out of the chair, surprised by her sudden appearance. He thought he had finally gotten rid of her. -Reno has to be around here somewhere. He must've paid her to follow me around like this! God damn it Reno!-

"Now this game has had some upgrading done recently. Let me show you some of them!" She said as she reached around him, pressing her chest up against him. "As you see here, we have new avatars of all the popular members of ShinRa, as you know, since this game is based-"

"I know what it's based on!" He said, abruptly cutting her off.

"Well that's good! Y'know I find men who are really smart very attractive. They are ranked from most popular to least popular." She said as she scrolled through the list. "Since you know what it's based on, I'll just leave you alone, so that you can play it." She said dejectedly as she walked away from.

Rude scrolled through the list and then threw his fist into the screen. -What the hell?! How is Reno at the top?! And how the hell is _Palmer_ ahead of me?!- He continued scrolling a bit until he finally found his name, 3 places from the bottom. -Why am I so low? These people don't work for ShinRa anymore!- Rude picked his avatar as he began to play the game, muttering angrily about the fact that whoever designed the characters gave him an afro.

* * *

Tifa sighed annoyed as she walked away from the machine. She was able to get rid of most of her anger, but she was still very depressed that her friends hated her for something she couldn't control. -Rude'll make me feel better. He's always been good about making me feel important and special.- She thought, smiling happily as she looked around for him. Then a depressing thought came to her, -What if he's really upset with me for leaving him to fend for himself? I shouldn't have been so selfish!- She looked around some more and found him on the 3rd floor, staring intently at a game called Torpedo Attack.

-Hmm. I wonder if the President knows about this game.- He thought as he waited, once again, for the final level to load. -He probably doesn't. If he did the game would cost twice as much gil to play and he would be the only character you could play as.- He quickly looked around and took a sigh of relief. "At least Shelly stopped following me around." He muttered as he quickly took down an enemy sub.

"Wow. Y'know you should've been in one of those subs hun." Tifa said, walking up to him and leaning against one of the other games. "ShinRa would've gotten the huge Materia back sooner. We wouldn't have been able to stand a chance."

-Looks like her bad mood as all gone.- He smiled a bit, laughing. "The President thought it was a waste of the Turks talents to do that. 'Why have lower ranking Soldiers if we can't use them all the time.' Those were his exact words."

Tifa laughed a bit, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "So it looks like you find yourself something to do. Sorry for leaving you all on your own."

Rude shook his head as he took out the last remaining sub, he then stood up and stretched. "It's okay Tifa. It took me awhile to find a game that I enjoyed, but surprisingly, I enjoyed myself." He looked down at her, concerned. "What about you? Are you okay?" He asked, taking her hand.

Tifa nodded as they headed back down the stairs to the second level. "Yeah. I'm feeling better now. Although the machine might be out of commission for a few days…maybe a few weeks?"

Rude raised an eyebrow at her. "What happened to it?"

Tifa looked around nervously. "Umm, well that's the thing…it may have sort of broke…a bit…"

"It broke?" He asked as he looked over and saw several mechanics swarming around a certain machine, smoke was pouring out of it and it sent several sparks into the air as well. "Uh-huh."

Tifa blushed a bit as she looked down at her feet. "Yeah, it was the strangest thing. I was playing it and all of a sudden the screen just exploded!"

Rude raised his eyebrow again at her. "Uh-huh. And the screen didn't happen to explode because you punched it right?"

Tifa just smiled a bit, running her hand through her hair. "Hey, I've got a game for you to try out Rude!" She said as she quickly led him away and into a corner. "It's one you haven't played yet. You might enjoy it." She said as she sat him down in front of the game.

He looked up at them game and looked at her in disbelief. "Mog's House? This game is called Mog's House."

"Yup." She said as she inserted the gil. "Just try it Rude. It won't kill you to try it."

Rude rolled his eyes as the all too cheerful music started playing. "What the hell are you making me play Tifa? The music alone is going to give me nightmares."

Tifa just laughed and shook her head. "Just play it sweetheart."

Rude's mouth fell open. "What?! The entire point of this game is to hook him up with a female moogle? Tifa….."

Tifa laughing, gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Just play it Rude."

Rude moaned and muttered angrily under his breath about the stupidity of this entire place and this game. "So I just have to get Mog to eat then he'll get a girlfriend?"

Tifa nodded, trying to control her laughter. "Yup. That's it. Play it and I'll take you to another fun place here."

Rude rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. "After this place, how much more fun can it possibly get." He asked sarcastically. He sighed with relief as he finished the game a few moments later, then his eyes went wide. "What the hell? They had that many babies?!" He asked as the tiny mogs kept coming out of the house. He looked over at Tifa, mouth gaping and then looked back at the screen. "Wait….one of them is…yellow? How on Gaia is there a yellow baby moogle? What did they do?"

Tifa laughed harder, clutching her sides. "Aeris' reaction was priceless too! She grabbed the screen and called the female moogle a whore! She then refused to play the game until that was fixed."

Rude shook his head annoyed. "Why do they have a game like this here? To scam people out of money?"

Tifa shrugged, "That's probably it. You don't get much GP out of it."

"So what _do _you use these GP for? I've got maybe 150 or so?"

"You trade them in before you leave and you can get prizes. Or you can use them to go to different places here. Like where we're going next. Speed Square."

"We don't have to go down another slide do we?" Rude asked warily.

Tifa shook her head. "No it's nothing too exciting. We're just going down a tunnel this time."

Rude exhaled in relief. "Thank goodness."

* * *

They were greeted by yet another employee, who was young, but thankfully a male. "Hi there and welcome to Speed Square! In this area you'll be shooting targets to try and reach the highest score! The higher your score, the better your prize!" The male looked over and Tifa and smiled. "Well hey there pretty lady! Haven't seen you in awhile! Did you come back to try and beat your score?"

Tifa grinned and nodded. "Yup! It's still the highest score right?"

"Not anymore beautiful. Some guy came and did the whole thing one handed and with a shotgun too! It was pretty amazing to watch. This guy got a perfect score! It might be hard for a pretty girl like you to beat."

Rude glared at him, sizing him up. He then took Tifa's arm and held her hand tightly.

Tifa winced a bit as she smiled at bit at the man. "Well I think we'll do okay." She said as she gave him the GP.

"Well, have fun you two and don't be a stranger! Come back again soon!" He said with a casual wave of his arm.

* * *

As got situated into the ride, Tifa looked over at Rude and shook her head a bit. "Y'know Rude, you need to not be so jealous all the time." She said shaking out her hand. "I think you might've broken a few fingers."

"Sorry about your hand Tifa. And I wasn't jealous!" He muttered as he familiarized himself with the controls.

Tifa just smiled, shaking her head. "I love you Rude, I'm not going to leave you, okay?" She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Now let's just enjoy this game alright?"

"Hmph. Fine."

Tifa smiled even more. "Y'know maybe with the two of us we can get a perfect score too!"

"That's highly doubtful Tifa. The President would never allow anyone to even _try_ and come close to his score. I'm sure he rigged the game so that it couldn't happen." He said as the ride began.

* * *

"Man! I was so close to getting a high score! My stupid gun just _had_ to malfunction near the end!" Tifa moaned as they walked back to the entrance.

Rude just laughed and shook his head. "I told you President Rufus wouldn't let _anyone_ even come close to his high score."

Tifa stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah well next time, I'll get a perfect score! He won't be able to stop me!"

Rude just smiled down at her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Of course you will Tifa. You won't stop until you beat his score."

Tifa smiled up at him. -I wonder if he'd ride the Gondola with me? Nah, he'd probably get upset at me for making all those demands today.- She thought, looking down embarrassed.

Rude gently pulled her face up to meet his. "What are you so embarrassed for Tifa?"

"Well after all the demands I made today, I was just wondering if you'd do one last thing with me."

"Tif, you've never made any demands today. I willingly came here with you. What do you want to do now?"

"Do you think we could take a trip on the Gondola?" She asked softly, looking up at him nervously.

Rude just smiled down at her and placed his hand on her cheek. "Of course we can Tifa."

Tifa smiled up at him and whispered. "Thank you Rude."

* * *

Tifa laid her head against Rude's shoulder as the Gondola slowly took them around the park. "I can see why Aeris wouldn't stop gushing about this. It really is nice."

Rude nodded a bit as he looked out the window and sighed to himself. -I have to do this. I have to tell her tonight. I can't keep this up anymore. She needs to know the truth. I just hope she doesn't hate me for this.-

Tifa sighed happily again as she kissed his cheek, bringing him out of his ruminations.

"What was that for?" He asked a bit startled.

Tifa just giggled. "For everything you've done for me Rude. For fixing my bar, for bringing me back to reality. For asking me out and making me the happiest girl ever. Thank you Rude, I love you so much."

Rude just smiled down at her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I love you too Tifa." He whispered as he kissed her on her lips.

* * *

Several hours later, Tifa and Rude were making their way back to 7th Heaven, Tifa was feeling in a much better mood, thanks to the man standing beside her, but she noticed that he seemed quieter than usual, at least by his standards.

The closer they got to 7th Heaven the more nervous Rude got. He knew he had to tell her the truth, the real reason why he asked her out. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. -It'll break her heart. But she has to understand that I never wanted to hurt her. If I don't tell her she will be hurt and who knows what else. This is for her own good.- Rude stopped just as they reached the door to Tifa's house. "Hey Tifa…"

"Hmm? Is everything okay, Rude?" Tifa asked as she dug around for her keys. "You've been really quiet tonight. Is everything okay?" She put her key in the lock and turned the doorknob.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I just need to talk to you about something. It's really important."

"Alright, well how about I make us something to drink and we can-" Tifa stopped in her tracks, mouth hanging open as she walked inside and looked around. "M-My house…"

Everything in the house was torn apart, ripped of its shelf, broken and in complete disarray. Tifa walked in slowly, picking up a few things here and there. Rude just slowly walked behind her.

"Who would do this to my house?"

There sitting in her living room with a huge stack of papers in his hand, was Reno. "Oh hey Tifa! How's it going?"


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

(A/N Note: Just a warning to you, there is a bit more language than usual in this chapter!)

* * *

Elena and Tseng were spending the morning (once again) going through and sorting all the paperwork in his office.

"So maybe after we get all this paperwork finished we could get some dinner, together?" Elena asked, looking up at Tseng, eyes full of adoration. She thought that doing paperwork was the most _boring_ thing that she could ever do in her life, but if it meant being with Tseng, she'd put up with anything, even boring paperwork.

"I highly doubt it. It's going to take a very long time to go through all of these files. Some of these need to be updated with things that have happened in the past four years. The others aren't nearly complete at all! When will they learn to file things correctly for once?" Tseng said, shaking his head as he looked at a pile of papers sitting in front of him.

Elena sighed, looking down dejectedly. "Yes sir."

* * *

Reno came running in and threw the door open which caused a gust of wind to blow through, rustling his hair and jacket tails, but also sending most of the pages on Tseng's desk flying. "Stop the presses! Hold everything! I got some BIG news, yo!"

Tseng looked at the papers, mouth gaping, then looked up at Reno and glared at him. "Reno….you'd better have a damn good reason for messing up my paperwork! I've got several demotion papers lying around here! I _will_ use one on you!"

"Aww, now you don't wanna do that Director! You'd miss me too much!"

Tseng glared at him, as he and Elena began to pick up the papers on the floor. "Like the small village misses the plague."

Reno laughed, slapping him on the back. "Trust me, it's worth it Director. So I got some information that Rude has taken Tifa to the Gold Saucer, yo! This'll be the perfect time for us to go and get the information about AVALANCHE's oil field for the boss!"

Elena looked up at him worriedly. "D-did you hear that from Rude?" She asked hesitantly.

Reno just shook his head. "Naw. Rude doesn't tell me anything when it comes to Tifa. He hasn't been telling me anything recently! It's like he _hates_ me or something!"

Tseng raised his eyebrow at him, "And how good is the information Reno? I don't want to be walking into a trap."

"My mole is really reliable. The information is 100% true, the bar and home are completely empty for the day."

"How on Earth did _you_ get a mole in AVALANCHE? It took Reeve a long time to get Cait Sith to infiltrate Cloud's group! How is it you get a mole in AVALANCHE who _willingly_ wants to help _ShinRa_?" Elena asked disbelievingly.

Reno waved his finger in the air. "Tsk. Tsk, rookie. Don't you know that the Turks aren't allowed to talk about how we got our moles. It's to protect their auto…umm…ano…umm…y'know to protect the…umm…."

"Anonymity?" Tseng asked raising his eyebrow again.

Reno nodded eagerly. "Yeah! That's the word, yo! You're so smart Director! You should get a promotion or be in charge of something! Cause you know all the big words!"

Tseng rolled his eyes. "Yes, maybe I can be put in charge of _something_ that doesn't get on my nerves all the time!"

"Y'know Director, you really should take a vacation. I hear Costa del Sol is really nice this time of year."

Elena's ears perked up. "Maybe I could go with you boss! I could use a vacation too! And Costa sounds really nice and romantic!" She quickly looked back down at the papers she was sorting when Tseng and Reno glanced over at her. "Or I could just stay here and do unimportant boring rookie work."

* * *

"Oh hey Tifa! How's it going?"

"Reno…what are you doing? Why did you destroy my house?" Tifa looked around urgently. "Where's Marlene? I swear if you hurt her….."

"Don't worry, I didn't hurt the brat, yo. It's against the Turks code to hurt children."

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "Somehow I doubt that."

"No seriously! It just got added this year! It's in our contract and _everything_! I think the Director added it cause of the whole issue with that Ancient chick or whatever." Reno said shrugging his shoulders. "The brat wouldn't have been able to stop us anyway."

"Us? What do you mean us?"

"Yeah, everyone was here! Me, Tseng and even the Rookie. 'Course she didn't do much to help at all! She just kept sayin' that this was a bad idea or whatever. I don't know, I don't really pay attention when she starts whining like that. Have you _heard_ her voice when she's whining? It's all pitched and stuff! It's soo annoying!"

Tifa rolled her eyes at him "That still doesn't explain what the hell you were doing here! And why my house is in shambles!"

Reno looked over at Rude, who was standing in one corner of the room, nervously adjusting his tie, his watch, and whatever else he could get his hands on. "Maybe you should tell her what's going on partner. I mean she _is_ your girlfriend after all. And this was _your_mission."

Tifa slowly turned to look at Rude, her body felt like it was being covered in ice. "R…Rude? What is he talking about?"

Rude sighed and ran a hand over his bald head as he began to pace nervously. "Tifa, before I say anything, I just want you to know that I love you very much, I have for a long time now."

Tifa smiled a little, but the smiled failed to reach her eyes as she nodded once. "I love you too, please, what is Reno talking about Rude? What mission?"

Rude looked over at Reno and gave him a long hard glare. "Well, it's a long story, maybe you'd better sit down?" He said gently, leading her to the couch and helping her to sit, he then continued his pacing. "Where should I begin?" He muttered, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"You can first start off by telling me what Reno is holding in his hand!" She said, glaring at him.

"Papers. He's holding papers. Important papers dealing with the oil field."

"B-but I didn't have any papers about it! Just some letters Barret sent to Marlene and maybe a few others things!" She looked up at Rude eyes watering. "I promise I didn't lie to you!"

Rude smiled down gently at her, putting his hand on her face. "I know you didn't Tifa."

"Nah, it's more like _he's_ been lying to _you_ this entire time, yo! Why don't you tell her how the President told you to make Tifa fall in love with you so that way you could get information on the oil field for him?"

Tifa quickly sat back on the couch, pulling herself away from Rude's touch. "W-what?"

"Yeah. And tell her how you took her on all those trips just to get her to fall in love with you and how they meant nothing at all to you."

Tifa covered her mouth with one hand as her eyes began to overflow with tears. "T-that's not true is it Rude? It just can't be true! Tell me you _didn't_ me out just because of the oil field and on President Rufus' orders! Please Rude! Tell me that's not true!" She begged looking up at him.

Rude stopped his pacing and stood in front of her and nodded. "It's true, Tifa. President Rufus _did_ ask me to do this because of the oil field. He _did_ want me to ask you out because he wants information about it. But I _swear_ to you Tifa, I never wanted to do to hurt you, I only did it because I care about you, I wanted to try and make you feel better! I never had an intention of going through with the actual mission!" He said as he put his hands gently on her shoulders.

Tifa threw his arms of her and stood up and walked away from him, glaring at him. "You _lied_ to me Rude! You told me when first asked me out that you weren't doing it because of the oil field! Do you _remember_ that Rude? Or were you lying to me then too?"

Rude raised an eyebrow at her. "So you wanted me to tell you, that I was only asking you out because of the oil field?"

"It would've been nice to know that! That way I wouldn't have to suspect everything you've told me recently! Were you _ever_ going to tell me Rude? Or was I going to have to find this out from _Reno_ of all damn people!"

"I was going to tell you Tifa."

"Bull. Just when exactly were you going to tell me?"

"I was going to tell you today. I was afraid of someone else coming after you and hurting you Tifa. I didn't tell you this to protect you and keep you safe." He said as he looked down at his feet.

"I don't believe you Rude! I don't believe you one bit! How the hell was _lying_ to me keeping me safe?! I'm such a stupid _idiot_! I let myself fall in love with a _Turk_! I _defended_ you when my friends were attacking you! I loved you damn it! As weird as it seems I _loved_you! You work for ShinRa, thee most evil, vile, despicable companies in the world! A company I would love to destroy for all the evil it's done! And yet, I was willing to look past all of that because I loved you! But maybe Barret was right! Maybe everyone in ShinRa is just pure evil and has no hope of ever absolving their sins!"

Rude visibly flinched at her usage of loved. "And I loved you too Tifa! That's why I had to lie! I would rather die than let _anyone_ at ShinRa try to hurt you!"

"So you finally decided to grace me with the truth. Why?" She asked glaring at him.

"I didn't want you getting hurt." He said softly. "President Rufus told me that if I didn't get the information from you he'd send someone else to attack you and torture you! Do you think I wanted that?"

"He's right you know. And not everyone is unwilling to hurt you as Rude is, yo. The Turks are known of kidnapping, murdering, torturing and all kinds of other bad stuff. Just ask that Ancient chick and Cloud."

Tifa turned to glare at Reno. "Reno, for once in your damn life just shut up! So help me if I hear so much as one _syllable_ from you I will hurl you through something so hard that you will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Got it?"

Reno nodded and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Got it. My lips are sealed. Oh yeah, Rude be sure and tell her how this whole 'relationship' of yours was a just a big illusion and that you weren't really in love with her?"

Tifa stopped her pacing and stared at Rude, covering her mouth with her hands, crying. "W-what?! Y-you never loved me?"

Rude reached out to touch her, "That's not true Tifa. I do love you."

Tifa sobbed and wrapped her arms around herself tightly, backing away from him "W-was any of this real Rude? Did you even care about me at all? Or was it all just lies?" She whispered.

Rude just looked down and sighed a bit, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Look Tifa, we're Turks. We can make people believe what we want them to believe, whether or not it's the truth." Reno said, looking up at the ceiling. "It's what we do and it's what we're good at. That's the truth."

Tifa looked back to Rude, tear streaming down her face. "I-if you would've told me the truth Rude, we may have been able to save what we have."

"Please Tifa, we _still_ can. You just have to believe me." Rude said, grasping at straws.

Tifa shook her eye, hugging herself even more tightly. "We can't now Rude. You lied to me about something really important! What's to stop you from lying again to me? I can't live like that Rude! W-we're done! I don't want to see you anymore! N-now both of you get out of my house!" Tifa whispered, sobbing even harder.

Rude looked at her, shocked. "T-Tifa, please listen…."

Tifa looked at him, with a hard look in her eyes but it was ruined by her crying, she had given up on trying to stop herself from crying. . "No, _you_ listen! Do you even _know_ what I was like before? I was drowning myself in liquor! I was moping around for a damn future that had little hope of ever happening! Then I started dating you Rude, and I was so happy! I went against my _friends_ to date you! I even went against my own beliefs to date you! I thought it would've been worth it!" Tifa sighed a bit, angrily. "I was such an idiot for agreeing to date you! I thought that our happiness would last! And now I find out that our _entire_ relationship was nothing but a lie?! I _hate_ you Rude! I hate you!" She cried as she slapped him with the limited amount of strength that she could muster.

Rude just stood there, feeling the sting of the slap, knowing that soon it would become a giant red mark. "Tifa.."

"Why are you still here?" Tifa sobbed. "I want the both of you out of my sight now, y-you stupid Turks!"

Reno walked over to Rude and grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door. "You heard her partner. Let's get out of here and show the President what we have."

Tifa heard the door close behind her and she fell to her knees, sobbing even more. "NOOO!" She screamed, her entire world going cold and dark again.

* * *

Rude winced again as he heard her scream. -I'm so sorry, Tifa. I never wanted it to end this way.-

Reno just grinned at looked over at Rude, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Y'know I'm sorry that this happened to ya bro, but we're Turks. We don't get the happily ever crap or whatever it's called. So what do ya say we go and hit the bar after we drop these papers off for the President?"

The hand was quickly removed by Rude who was gripping it so hard that the bones in Reno's hand began to creak and crack. "Don't touch me." Rude didn't even spare Reno a glance as he walked off back to his apartment.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

* * *

((A/N: This chapter once again has some strong language! And if you are reading this chapter, yay! That means you totally didn't stop following my story because of the previous chapter! Please continue to read and review!))

* * *

3 weeks later

Reno pounded on Rude's door. "Heeyy Rude! Wake up, yo! We gotta go to work! C'mon on man! It's been like three weeks already! Stop mopin' around, yo!"

"If you don't get away from the door right now Reno, I will break _every_ single bone in your body, repeatedly. Now go _away_." Rude called from the other side of the door.

"Geez Rude. You haven't been to work in like weeks! Are ya even coming to work today?"

"I filled out the paperwork for vacation time. I'm good for another month."

Reno stared at the door flabbergasted. "How did you get vacation time? I've filled out paperwork for it about a hundred times!"

"I filled it out correctly, idiot. Now leave me alone."

Reno moaned. "Fine. But after work we are going out to the the bar and we're going to have a great time! And you aren't getting out of it this time!"

"Reno go away, I'm not in the mood."

Reno sighed annoyed, putting his hands in his pockets. "You're _never_ in the mood nowadays Rude! You've gotten boring!"

"You're partially to blame Reno. Now do you want to see how easily I can punch you through this door?"

"Now why would you wanna go and do that? After all the complaining you did last time you had to fix it!"

"I'd buy a new one. Now go away otherwise I _will_ call the Director and put in a recommendation for Elena so she can get a promotion!"

Reno laughed. "Now why would ya wanna go and do that partner? You'd loose your number 3 spot."

"It would be worth it. Now when I open this door again, you'd better not be standing there!" Rude said angrily.

"Okay. Okay. I'm leaving. But you'd better be ready to leave when I get home." Reno called as he walked out of the apartment.

* * *

As soon as he was sure that Reno was gone, Rude slowly left his room and headed into the kitchen to get himself something small to eat. He winced as he caught his reflection in a mirror. He hasn't shaved in over 3 weeks, so his normally clean shaved face and perfectly groomed goatee had become a scruffy, overgrown scratchy, disgusting mess of a beard. His usual clean appearance was covered with old grey sweatpants and a dirty white tank top. "I really should shave...I guess I could do it tomorrow." He sighed shaking his head, looking away.

He caught a glance in the living room and saw that the living room was a mess once again. It was especially worse the closer you were to Reno's room, he sighed shaking his head. "I give up. I don't care how bad it looks, Reno can destroy it all he wants."

He slowly shuffled into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, putting a large amount of liqueur in as well. He sighed a bit as he then poured a bit more into the cup. He then began his usual morning contemplation. -How could I have saved this? Should I have just told her the truth? Is there any hope of getting her back at all? How could this have gotten out of hand?- Rude moaned a little, laying his head on the table. -If she'd just answer her damn phone and let me explain-

He lifted his head up a fraction of an inch and looked at his phone, 7th Heavens number on the screen. -Just press the button. Everything could be explained and everything will work out.- His finger hovered over the send button, but then he moaned and placed his head back on the table. -Who am I kidding? She won't wanna talk to me. She probably changed her number to her house and the bar, just so I couldn't talk to her. - He sighed again as he placed his head back on the table.

He continued his musings for a few more minutes, until he heard his phone ringing. It startled him a bit, but he waited a few rings to pick his phone up. He moaned annoyed as he looked at the caller ID. He hit the ignore button as he finished his coffee and headed back to his room.

* * *

His phone rang 3 more times before he finally answered. "What do you want Elena?"

"Rude! You finally answered! Thank goodness! I just _knew_ Reno wasn't telling the truth!"

Rude shook his head. -What is it with people believing anything that comes out of Reno's mouth?- He thought, rubbing his forehead. "So what was Reno saying this time?"

"Well he was saying that how you were really depressed and that you were gonna kill yourself! Please don't kill yourself Rude! I know you're really upset about what happened! But please don't kill yourself!"

Rude rolled his eyes again. "Look Elena, your first mistake was listening to anything that came out of Reno's damn mouth. Secondly, I'm not going to kill myself. What I am going to do is drink and then fall asleep again."

"Alright, but Rude please don't do anything to hurt yourself! I'd be sad of anything happened to you."

"Sorry Elena, but I just had a bad break up and honestly the only woman I want is Tifa."

Elena laughed loudly, causing Rude to wince away from the phone. "Oh no! I'm not asking you out on a date! I'm totally in love with Tseng and someday I'm gonna marry him! In all seriousness Rude, please don't do anything to hurt yourself! I'm gonna try and see if Tifa will talk to me maybe I can see if I can save this!"

Rude sighed a little. "Look Elena, I appreciate your help and all, but that's not going to help my situation at all."

"No way! I'm not going to let you give up that easily Rude! Where's your Turk spirit? We do the toughest missions on Gaia! We never give up, no matter who we're fighting!"

Rude sighed, exasperated. "Elena, this isn't the best time for you to try and cheer me up, or try and inspire me to come into work. I need to be away from everything, until I can figure out what to do."

Elena sighed a bit, "Just please don't give up and hang in there Rude, I'm gonna see what I can do to solve this situation! Uh-oh. Gotta go! We're getting our mission! I hope you feel better soon Rude!" She said as she quickly hung the phone up.

Rude shook his head as he placed his phone on the nightstand and made sure to turn the phone off this time as he leaned against his headboard and closed his eyes, replaying the events in his mind and still trying to figure out if there was any way that he could salvage his relationship with Tifa. -It's been three weeks. It's hopeless by now, I should just accept that the past few months were just a happy dream and now I have to face reality. Tifa and I…are history. We'll never get back together. What can the Rookie do? She can't fix this problem! She can't even get the Director to notice that she has feelings for him! How can she get Tifa to go back out with me- He sighed dejectedly, reaching out for his coffee cup as he took another drink of it. -Maybe Reno _is_ right. Maybe Turks don't get the happily ever after...I'd better not admit that to Reno. He'd _never_ let me live it down, that I admitted he was right.- Rude sighed as he shook his head and closed his eyes, settling back into sleep. -Maybe this time she won't be in my dreams.-

* * *

Rude found himself at the dinner table, sitting between Tifa and a picture of Cloud. He had to admit to himself that he was feeling very jealous at the picture. In it, Tifa was smiling and laughing her arms around the two children. While he hated the fact that Cloud was the reason for her smile, he liked that picture of her. He would prefer seeing her smile to the upset face she had now.

Marlene looked over at Rude for a second, before she looked back at Tifa. "Say Tifa, when do you think that Cloud is coming home? Do you think that he misses _our_ family?"

Rude glared at the girl a bit, cutting his chocobo piece with more relish than he normally would have. -That stupid kid! Doesn't she know that she's hurting Tifa every time she talks about Cloud? Of course I'm sure she's just doing it on purpose.- He looked over worriedly at Tifa, wondering if she was okay. He tried to reach over and grab her hand in support.

Marlene gave him a glare and shook her head a tiny bit as she glared right back at Rude.

Tifa hesitated for a few moments, not noticing the staring contest going on between Marlene and Rude. "Maybe. I'm sure he misses you and Denzel a lot. You kids did mean a lot to him." Tifa said sadly, looking back down at her plate.

Rude looked over at her, his heart breaking with pity for her. -Poor Tifa. She really does miss him, more than she admits. She's also totally jealous of the kids, how he cares about them more. I wish I could make her feel better.- He thought sadly, continuing to watch her, not really paying attention to his food.

"Say Tifa, do you think that when Cloud comes back the _four_ of us could go to Gold Saucer together as a _family_?" She asked, looking at her smiling brightly.

Tifa winced again. "Maybe, we'll have to see what C-Cloud wants to do when he gets back. If he even comes back." She said the last part softly.

-I'm really starting to hate this kid! She's trying to make me jealous, but she doesn't care about how it affects Tifa!- Rude sighed shaking his head, taking another bite of his food. It was so delicious, the chocobo was cooked to perfection. He cleared his throat a bit, "The chocobo is delicious Tifa." He said, as he refilled her cup.

Tifa looked over at him, smiling. "Thanks Rude. This is one of my favorite recipes to make! Herb roasted chocobo has always been my favorite food!"

"Just like the desert Tifa and I are going to share is my favorite as well. Which you don't get to have any of!" Marlene said, looking at him, giving him an angry look.

"Marlene! That's not a polite thing to say!" Tifa said, embarrassed. "Rude is a guest here, he has done a lot for us! He's allowed to have some of our dessert. If I hear you talk to Rude like that one more time, you'll be going up to room without _any_ dessert, is that understood young lady?" Tifa said, giving Marlene a hard look.

Marlene sunk back into her chair and she nodded once. "Yes Tifa. I understand."

Rude smiled a bit, listening to Tifa defend. -Maybe there _is_ hope for the two of us. She doesn't seem to dislike me, but she didn't say she hated me. I guess we'll have to see how the rest of the evening plays out before I make any judgements.- He thought as he took another bite of the chocobo, giving Tifa a reassuring smile.

* * *

It seemed like Rude had just fallen asleep when his bedroom door opened with a loud crash.

"Hey partner! It's time to get up man! All the babes are waiting for us!" Reno said as the light shone behind him, giving him a holy-like glow.

Rude moaned a bit as he sat up on his bed, blinking a bit confused. "What are you doing in my room Reno?"

Reno looked around, going through some of this stuff. "How on Earth can you stand having your room so clean?! You must not be able to find anything in this neatness! Now come on! You said that you'd go to the bar with me after work. Work is over, so now it's time to get the babes and do some serious drinking!"

Rude moaned, putting his arm over his face. "Reno, you know I just said that to get you to leave me alone right?"

"I honestly don't care man. You _are_ getting up and you _are_ going with me! And we're going to hang out like we used to! Back before that whole mess with Tifa. Now get up! Otherwise, I'll bring the babes here and we'll just have a party in your room."

Rude looked up from under his arm. "You wouldn't."

Reno pulled out his phone. "I would. Now, come on buddy! You'll see, after a shower and a change of clothes, you'll feel like your old self again!"

Rude sighed a bit as he sat up in this bed and put his head in his hands. "Why are you so insistent on me going with you? You've never had trouble getting ladies when you were by yourself."

"Yeah I know that." Reno shrugged a bit. "I don't know if I have a good reason. Maybe I miss hanging out with my best friend? That a good enough reason for you Rude?"

Rude looked him over a bit, wondering if he was being played by Reno. Sighing, he stood up and stretched a little. "Fine Reno. I'll go to the stupid club with you, but I refuse to have any fun."

Reno slapped his shoulder and smiled. "Oh trust me bro. You're going to have lots of fun!"

* * *

Rude sat in the darkest corner that he could find, his table was completely covered in various bottles and glasses. The drinks were the only good thing about the club that they were in. The music, in his opinion was awful, the friendly atmosphere seemed to be forced, the women were throwing themselves on almost every available man around, and the general design gave him a headache that had nothing to do with the number of drinks he had, this was Reno's type of club. Rude found himself longing for the more peaceful atmosphere of 7th Heaven. Sure it had its share of problems, but that just added to the charm of it.

* * *

He was standing with Reno as he was trying introducing to some girl whose name slipped Rude's mind as soon as Reno muttered it. He was too busy watching Tifa as she walked around the bar, trying to help the other customers, but clearly she was overwhelmed. He wanted to try and help her anyway he could, but Reno would refuse to let him leave.

"She's really perfect for you Rude! She works at ShinRa as an umm, what was it you did again?" Reno asked looking the blond over.

"I'm an accountant, in charge of allocating funds from the departments where they aren't doing any good to the ones where they do the most good." She said looking completely uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"See bro? Looks and brains! I totally think that she's your type!" Reno said, slapping him on the shoulder.

Rude rolled his eyes, under his glasses. "You don't know my type Reno, besides, you know that I'm dating Tifa right now." He said as he looked back over at Tifa, who gave him a small smile, which he returned with one of his own.

"Yeah, but Tifa doesn't have looks and brains like Angelique does! She's an accountant bro! Plus you work for the same company, so you don't have to worry about any issues involving dating someone from the other side!"

At this point Rude began to tone out Reno's voice. He sighed, shaking his head a little. He was really hoping that Tifa would kick everyone out of the bar so that way he could take her out to dinner, he already had a nice place picked out, it was small and quiet, the perfect place for people who didn't want to stand out. He glanced over at Tifa and noticed that a patron was making his way over to her, the man seemed drunk and was wanting to start trouble.

"Hey you, barmaid!"

Rude's fingers and eyebrow twitched involuntarily at the way the man was talking to her.

"Yes sir? What can I do for you?" He heard Tifa reply sounding as professional as ever.

"Don't give me that high and mighty attitude."

It took all of Rude's willpower not to go over to the man and Grand Spark him until he stopped moving.

"Excuse me?" He nodded a bit at how Tifa was trying to be diplomatic, he however was still in favor of using Grand Spark.

"Me and my friends asked you for your good whiskey. Not this cheap crap."

Over the lenses of his sunglasses, Rude sized the man up. -Hmph. He's so scrawny it wouldn't be worth my time or effort. He probably doesn't even workout. Pathetic.- He thought as he shook his head.

"Sir, I gave you some of the best whiskey I have. If you want, I can give you something different, with no charge."

-I wonder why she just doesn't tell him to back off. He's obviously not going to listen to her.-

"Hmm, I know what you can give me. How about you close this stupid place and come home with me. I'll show you a real party."

"Sorry sir, but you can't have me, I'm not for sale. Now I'm going to have to politely ask that you leave my bar. Or I will have you thrown out."

Rude popped his knuckles a bit as he glared at the man some more, liking him less and less with every syllable he uttered.

"You think that you're so much better than me, but you're not! Every woman can be bought for a certain price."

"Leave now! Get out of my bar right now trash!"

He was glad that Tifa finally had the sense to try and get rid of him. "Pardon me for a second." He said as he pushed his way from Reno and towards Tifa.

"You'll pay for that one." He said as he held his hand up to slap her.

Rude closed the gap in a matter of seconds and grabbed the mans hand tightly, not wanting him to touch a single hair on Tifa's head. He glared at the man. "No."

He looked up at Rude and glared at him. "Oh, so you think you're going to stop me? I'd like to see you try."

Rude mentally shook his head at the drunk patron. Whatever he was drinking obviously gave him the idea that he could take on a Turk. -Some people will never learn.- Rude quickly stretched his arms a bit. "Fine with me." He then grabbed the man and put him in a sleeper hold, thinking that it wouldn't help him if on the first date he made a complete mess of the bar. He finally felt the man collapse in his arms.

"Thank you Rude." Tifa said as she gave him a smile.

Rude's heart skipped a beat as she smiled at him. He cleared his throat and gestured to the man. "Where do you want the trash?" He asked, secretly pleased that Tifa was okay with him interfering.

* * *

Rude shook his head and placed his head in his hands. -Damn it. I let myself get lost in memories again.- He thought annoyed with himself for thinking about Tifa. -I'm going to blame this stupid place for it.- He thought as he finished his umpteenth beer and placed the beer with the others, in the section of the table with all the other beers. -Only one thing could make this evening even worse…-

"Hey Rude! What are you doing sitting here in the dark being really boring and alone man?" Reno asked, holding a bottle of beer in one hand, knocking over the different sections of glasses with his other.

-…and there he is right on cue, as usual. Once again, thank you Reno.- Rude sighed annoyed as he began to straighten up his handiwork, getting more and more pissed off as the bottles kept falling over. Even to this day, Rude doesn't exactly know why he lost his cool. The popular theory was that the hours of grating techno music, coupled with the gratuitous amounts of alcohol and Reno's incompetence just made him snap. "Reno…just _stop_! Everything I had was in it's perfect place! All set up the way it needed to be! I had _everything_ coming together and then _you_ decided to blow _everything_ up in my damn face! _You_ decided I wasn't doing a good enough job! _You_ decided it was time to give it a little touch of Reno. With your stupid rat tail and your skinny pretty boy looks and your egotistical bullshit!" Rude said loudly, glaring at Reno angrily.

"You still aren't mad about that are ya?" Reno asked shaking his head a bit. "I mean, yeah I know you cared about-"

Rude abruptly stood up, slamming his hands on the table, knocking the various glasses and bottles on the floor. "You're damn right I'm still mad at you! I was genuinely _happy_ for _once_ in my damn life Reno! I had the girl of my dreams! We cared about each other! But then you had to go and _ruin_ everything that I had planned! Just because you couldn't get your way, you had to go and ruin my only chance at happiness!"

"Yeah but Rude-" Reno tried to begin.

"Shut up Reno! I don't want to hear you try and justify your stupid reasons for wanting me to be completely miserable!" He sighed and ran a hand over his head. "Reno, you've been my best friend for as long as I can remember. I just can't understand why you'd do something like that! I _loved_ her Reno! Tifa was one of the better things that I've had in my life! The _only_ thing keeping me from kicking your ass to the Promised Land and back is that we've been friends all this time!" Rude sighed annoyed again, he reached in his pocket and pulled out some gil and through it on the table. "Reno, if you know what's best for you and our friendship, you'd better find somewhere else to sleep tonight. Maybe one of these 'ladies' will gladly let you sleep in their beds."

* * *

Rude slowly walked down the lonely and empty streets of Edge, his hands in his pockets, kicking a rock with each step he took. If this had been three weeks ago he'd be walking home from 7th Heaven or wherever he was with Tifa at the time. Maybe they would've taken another trip again, maybe to Wutai this time, or wherever Tifa wanted to go. He smiled a bit, thinking about his last trip.

~~-~~

He sighed a bit, as he closed his eyes and relaxed in the sand. Normally, he hated it when he would get anything on his suits, sand included. He knew that he would be up for hours making sure every single grain of sand was out of his suit, pants and tie. However, when he would look over and see the bright smile on Tifa's face he knew it was worth every single grain sand in his suit.

"Oh Rude, this so romantic." Tifa said as she leaned up against him. "Everything is so perfect."

Rude smiled as he put his arms around her and held her close to him. "I'm glad you think so. It's pretty nice out here, especially when there's nobody around to-"

He never even saw the volleyball coming at him until it hit him right in the face. He winced a bit, not because it hurt, which it didn't, he didn't even feel a thing, but because he heard the sound of plastic breaking. There was only one thing on him that could make that sound.

"Oh no Rude!" He heard Tifa call out worriedly. "Hey jerks! Watch what the hell you're doing next time! You could've hurt someone!" He could hear Tifa kneel down beside him and knew she was checking him over, making sure he wasn't hurt.

-No…no…not my sunglasses. These are my only pair of sunglasses that I have with me! They can't break! Those stupid punks!- He slowly pulled his sunglasses off his face, watching as they broke in front of his eyes. "My sunglasses…they broke my sunglasses!" He said sadly, as he made a face similar to that of a hurt puppy.

He heard Tifa's breath catch in her throat. "Rude…."

-What am I gonna do? I can't be with out my sunglasses! I've had these sunglasses for years now!- He looked down at them sadly, he felt completely upset and depressed that they were broken. Those sunglasses had survived four years of Reno's shenanigans, they couldn't break now. He then realized that Tifa was staring at him. -Oh yeah! Tifa has a pair of sunglasses! She promised me that I could borrow them!- He looked up at her. "Tifa? Did you bring your sunglasses with you?" He looked around worriedly for where she placed them.

Tifa handed him the sunglasses. "Rude, I have a request before you put the sunglasses on."

Rude sighed in relief as he took the sunglasses away from her. "What is it Tifa?" He asked a bit concerned as he paused in putting them back on. -What's wrong? Did my nose break or something? Did she change her mind and hate this idea?- His mind ran through several nerve wreaking possibilities until he saw her lean over and felt her soft lips brush up against his own.

"Okay, you can put them back on now."

Rude just looked at her, stunned at what just happen, his mouth hanging open a bit. -She kissed me! Tifa…just kissed me!- He gave her a smile, his mind going completely blank as he tried to figure out how to reply to the kiss. Mostly, he was trying to figure out of this was a dream or not, Tifa had kissed him, sure they had kissed each other's cheeks a few times, but this was full lips on lips contact!

"Sorry, I just didn't want our first kiss to be while you were wearing your sunglasses. The moment just seemed perfect for it."

Rude mentally slapped himself. -Idiot! If you would've taken off your sunglasses earlier you could've kissed her already! Idiot.- Rude just continued to smile at her, unable to stop the somewhat goofy grin that was for sure covering his face. "So did you plan on getting the ball thrown at me? Did you have a backup plan incase that one didn't work?" He said teasing her a little bit.

Tifa put her hand up and giggled a bit. "Your just too adorable Rude. I love you." She said, kissing his cheek.

Rude was sure that his heart had skipped a dozen or so beats. There was no possible way that he could've heard her correctly. -Did she just say what I think she said?- He thought, his mind in a daze, unable to find his voice.. He just blinked a few times at her. "W-What did you say?"

Tifa giggled again, her giggle made Rude's heart just want to melt. "You silly Turk, I said that I love you."

Rude grinned as he took Tifa in his arms, completely at peace at the moment. The woman he loved admitted that she loved him. Not only that, she had kissed him too! There was no way, this was real, this had to be a dream! He wanted to pinch himself to see if he was awake or not. -Better tell her that you love her too! Otherwise she'll think that you don't care about her and are just stringing her along!- "I love you too Tifa." He whispered as he kissed her on her lips, loving the softness of them. For the first time in his life, Rude felt completely happy and at peace with the world.

* * *

Rude sighed, leaning against the entryway of his kitchen. -Damn it. When is thinking about her going to stop hurting so much?- He sighed as he grabbed himself a glass of water and drank it, hoping it would help relive the bad hangover he was sure to have when he woke up the next morning. He thought back to what Elena had said, about how she was going to try and fix this, to try and get them back together. -There's nothing that she can do. She's just a Rookie. Besides, she wouldn't be able to get Tifa to listen to her. I gotta try and get her to talk to me- He thought as he looked at his fridge and pulled a piece of paper off of it. "Maybe this is the key." He said to himself as he looked it over. "This is my last shot."


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

* * *

(Quick author's note: I'm sooo very sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! I've had a lot of emotional issues that've happened to me recently and I needed to take a quick break to deal with them all! So I'm very very sorry! I'm usually a bit better than this. I promise that the next chapter will be up with another week or so!)

* * *

If Rude was completely miserable with their break up, then Tifa was completely, utterly lost and depressed, she found herself most days just wallowing in her own acrimony. Tifa mostly kept herself to the bar and adjoining guest room. She found herself slipping back into liquor again, trying to numb the pain that she felt all the time. Tifa sighed as she sat on the floor of the bar, hugging her legs tightly as she sobbed into her knees. -I c-can't believe how s-stupid I was. I fell for his s-stupid tricks. I let myself get used by S-ShinRa again.- She sobbed even harder, burying her face in her knees. "Oh Lifestream, why?" She cried loudly. She closed her eyes, trying to get her tears to stop.

* * *

Tifa yawned and slowly opened her eyes, she smiled brightly at what she saw. Laying next to her, with one arm around her waist, was Rude. Tifa blushed a little, self consciously. -Oh yeah. I told him I loved him last night.- A small grin came over her face. -And he loves me back. My wonderful Rude.- She whispered as she kissed him on his lips.

Rude moaned a bit in his sleep, but then rolled onto his side and held her tighter, pulling her closer to him as he buried his face in her hair.

Tifa giggled a bit as she snuggled up in his arms. -I'm so lucky.- She thought as she buried her face into his muscular chest.

Rude began to stir a bit as he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Tifa and gave her a smile. "Morning beautiful."

Tifa blushed again, but still gave him a smile. "Good morning to you too."

"No nightmares last night?" He asked as they sat up and he continued to hold her in his arms.

"Mmnm." She said shaking her head as she stared into his beautiful eyes. -I don't think I'll ever be tired of seeing his wonderful eyes.- She thought. "No nightmares last night. I think they saw you and ran away in fright."

He laughed a bit. "Good." He said as he kissed her forehead softly. "I have to say, I think that was the best nights sleep I've had in a long time."

She nodded eagerly. "I know exactly what you mean, Rude." She said taking his hand and her and holding it tightly. -I wish this weekend trip wasn't ending today.- She thought somberly as she looked down to the bed. -I wish I could stay here forever, like this. With Rude.-

Rude hugged Tifa tighter, as if he could read her mind. "We'll definitely have to do this again soon. What do you think?"

"I was just thinking the same thing." She whispered as she looked up at him and kissed him. "I love you Rude."

Rude put his hand on her face and kissed her back. "I love you too Tifa."

* * *

Tifa's eyes shot open and she looked around, seeing the familiar sights of her bar. Her attempts to stop crying were in vain as her tears came back again, this time they were more numerous. "N-No! I don't want to think about that trip! Not now!" She sobbed. "It didn't mean a thing to him! It was all a lie! He lied about loving me! He lied about taking me back there or anywhere else!" Tifa sighed, as she picked up her drink from the floor and took a large gulp of it, the liquor burned her throat as it went into her stomach. "Oh god, why?" She sobbed once more. "Why?"

* * *

"Why me?" She asked looked up at Rude as she dried off some glasses and put them away.

"Hmm?" Rude asked, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he continued to wash some plates. "What do you mean why you?"

"Well there are all kinds of girls in Edge for you to date. There was that one girl that Reno wanted you to talk to, she seemed really smart. She was really pretty too. That's the kind of girl you should be going for Rude. Some one who is pretty and smart. Someone who isn't just a barmaid." She said looking down at her feet sadly. -I'm just a nobody. I'm no one important.-

"That couldn't be further from the truth. You've helped save the world at least twice, have run successful businesses, and raise two kids who aren't even yours." Rude coughed into his hand. "I'd say that makes you pretty important."

She could feel herself blush as she looked back down at the dishes, not really paying attention to what she was doing. "Really?"

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rude nod as he walked away from the sink to go and collect more dishes. "Of course."

Tifa smiled to herself as she went to pick up the next dish to dry. She felt something cut her hand. "Oww!" She exclaimed as she threw the knife down and saw some blood coming from a long but shallow cut on her hand. -Way to go Tifa.- She thought as she reached for a towel.

"Are you okay?" She heard as she saw a towel being held out to her. She looked up and saw Rude, standing over her, looking concerned.

Tifa gratefully took the towel as she held it against her hand. "Yeah, I'm okay. That's what I get for being careless." She looked down embarrassed. "I'm not usually this careless."

"Where do you keep your first aid kit?" He asked as he began to look around.

"It's in the cabinet in the backroom." She said as she began to rinse off her hand, wincing as the water hit it.

She heard Rude come back a few minutes later and saw as he grabbed a stool and placed it in front of her. "Here Tifa, sit down. Let me take a look at it."

"It's okay, I can take care of it." She shook her head, annoyed with herself for being so careless.

Rude shook his head. "No, it's my fault, I distracted you. Please, let me see it." He said softly, as he gently took her hand.

Tifa was surprised with the tenderness in which he held her hand and looked it over. -Huh. I wouldn't have expected that out of him.- She winced a bit as she felt him dab some medicine on her hand.

"I'm sorry it stings. I just want to make sure it doesn't get infected before I use Cure."

"It's okay, I can handle it. I'm just surprised that you know so much about first aid."

"Turks are required to be up-to-date in all types of first aid. Our line of work is….dangerous to say the least. That's why most relationships with Turks don't last. Often times we're called on assignment a have to leave our loved ones for a long time." He said sadly as he held out a Cure materia and used it on her hand.

Tifa's heart broke a bit as he said that. -Poor Rude. How many times has he had to break up with someone because of his job?- Tifa became a bit jealous as soon as she thought those words. -Don't let yourself get jealous Tifa! He's allowed to have had other girlfriends before he asked you out! But it's so sad though, he's such a sweet guy.- Tifa smiled at him and placed her hand on his face. "Don't worry about me Rude! I'm used to being left on my own and ignored for awhile! I'm not like any of those other girls you may have dated!"

Rude smiled a bit as he washed his hands. "I know you aren't. You wouldn't try and tap my phone for ShinRa information. Or date me for the thrill of dating a Turk, which includes lots of bonuses, like exclusive ShinRa only restaurants." Rude sighed as he put the materia away. "You'd be surprised how many women have agreed to Reno's schemes because of the benefits."

Tifa laughed a bit as she very carefully dried the knife and put it back in it's place. "Speaking of Reno, how on Earth did he get that many people to come here tonight? I didn't think he _knew_ that many people!"

Rude just shook his head as he leaned against the bar. "It's Reno. I honestly can't keep up with him sometimes. He's too rambunctious for me."

"Then why are you best friends with him? You guys seem like complete opposites."

"It's a long story, going back to when we were both kids. Despite how he acts around us, he gets his act together during a mission. He fights pretty well on top of it all."

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? _Reno_? The guy who ran away from all our fights saying, 'We may be retreating, but we're still victorious.'? _He's_ a good fighter? I'd hate to see what ShinRa's bad fighters look like. "

"You'd be surprised what he can accomplish when he puts his mind to it. As for our bad fighters, well you do remember that Cloud got kicked out of SOLDIER because of how bad he was, right?"

Tifa winced a bit at the mention of Cloud, but laughed it off before handing Rude a beer in thanks.

Rude accepted the beer with a nod. "We also keep a number of our weaker members on site to help defend the ShinRa building. That's why all those enemies you encountered when you infiltrated to save Aeris were so weak."

"But you were there, so I guess that means you aren't strong at all." Tifa teased giving him a small smile. -He's so easy to tease sometimes!- Tifa giggled behind her hand and tried to keep a straight face.

Rude shook his head annoyed, and glanced down at her over his sungalsses. "I was called there."

Tifa just smiled and shook her head. "I don't know Rude, if you're so strong how come you'd never hit me in a fight?"

Rude looked at her for a few minutes, then looked back down at the beer in his hands. "Because I liked you and I didn't want to hurt you. Just because our sides were at odds doesn't mean that you should hurt someone you like, especially if it's a girl." He said, a bit embarrassed.

Tifa blushed a bit and smiled, looking at him. "Well thank you Rude." She took a sip of her beer and smiled again. -Y'know he's not that bad of a guy. Underneath his tough exterior he's just a big old softy.- She giggled behind her hand.

Rude raised his eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?"

Tifa shook her head once. "I'm not gonna say! Besides, it's not important!"

Rude just shook his head and smiled at her. "If it's got you laughing, I'm sure that it's something important. You haven't laughed a lot recently Tifa and I'm sorry."

Tifa looked at him confused as she took a sip of beer. "What have you got to be sorry about? It's not like you're the one who up and abandoned me." She said angrily as she put the liquor bottles back onto their shelf.

"That's true, but still, a beautiful woman like you shouldn't be upset. You should be smiling and laughing. Not sitting around a bar, feeling upset." Rude ran his hand through her hair and smiled again at her. "You really do have a beautiful smile Tifa."

Tifa blushed a bit, as she shyly looked up at Rude. "You really think so?"

Rude nodded. "Of course I do."

Tifa blushed again, as she smiled at him. "Well then, I'll make sure I smile a lot more then, just for you then."

Rude just took her hand and gave it a quick kiss.

* * *

Marlene watched Tifa from the doorway of the bar. -This is all my fault! I told Reno that they were gone. All I wanted was my family back, but I didn't want Tifa upset like this! I never wanted this.- She hesitated a bit, then slowly made her way over to Tifa and sat down by her. "Tifa?"

Tifa was so lost with in her own memories that she didn't hear Marlene come in and sit by her. She jumped a bit and looked around.

"I'm sorry Tifa. I didn't mean to scare you." Marlene said softly, looking at her hands folded in her lap, she glanced up at her and hesitated, "Are you...okay?"

Tifa shook her head as tears continued falling from her face. "No, Marlene. I'm not okay! Why on Gaia would I be okay?! Let's just think about all the stuff that's happened to me this year! The man I've know for my entire life has pretty much abandoned me! And come to find out that the man I grew to love and care about has _also_ betrayed me! He _used_ me! He didn't give a _damn_ about me! He made me believe that he loved me just so he could get information from me! Everything about our relationship meant _squat_ to him! How do you _think_ I'm feeling?! I'm fan-freakin-tastic right now!" Tifa said loudly, slamming her fist into the bar.

Marlene jumped a little, she had never seen Tifa so upset and angry before. -How would she react if I told her iI/i was the one who put Reno up to this?- She bit her lip worriedly, looking up at her and debating on if it was worth it or not.

Tifa sighed again, hugging her body tighter again. "What am I supposed to do now?" She whispered, not really wanting the answer to the question.

"Tifa…" Marlene said, looking worriedly at her.

Tifa put her hand on Marlene's head and tried to smile a bit. "Do me a favor kid, don't ever grow up and fall in love okay? _Especially_ not with anyone who lies to you about everything." She whispered as she looked down sadly, her fist balled up on the floor.

Marlene looked at her, hesitating a bit. "Tifa…" She said as her eyes filled up with tears.

Tifa took a shaky drink and then hugged Marlene tightly. "Well you don't have to worry anymore kiddo, from now on it's just going to be me and you again, just like it was before." She whispered said sadly. "Just you…and…me, forever alone." She sobbed into Marlene's hair.

Marlene just sat there as Tifa sobbed against her, she put her hand on Tifa's trying to do something to make her feel better. -Maybe what we did was wrong. I'm so sorry Tifa. I didn't want you to end up like this. I need to just tell her what happened.- Marlene took a deep breath "Hey Tifa?"

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and looked at her. "What's the matter Marlene?" Tifa whispered as she pushed a lock of hair away from her eyes.

"Well um…well um, I was um just wondering what would happen if umm you were to find out that Rude…didn't exactly lie to you…." She said, as she stared at the floor by her feet, trying not to make eye contact with Tifa.

Tifa pulled away from her and looked at her. "What are you talking about Marlene? Rude is a liar! He lied to me about everything! He let his friends come into our house!" Tifa gave Marlene a quick hug. "They have to be lucky that you weren't hurt as well, otherwise they would've paid."

"Yeah, see, umm that's the thing…Rude didn't exactly really know about anything that was going on here."

"W-what? O-of course he did! He planned the whole trip just to lure me away!" Tifa asked shocked.

Marlene shook her head, still looking down at the floor. "Rude had nothing to do with this Tifa. _I_ was the one who called Reno and told him you weren't here." Marlene said as she began to cry. "_I_ was the one who gave him all the papers about the oil field."

Tifa's arms fell to her side, paralyzed with what she was hearing. "Marlene…what are you talking about?"

Marlene sighed a bit sadly as she looked up at Tifa, tears falling from her eyes. "Tifa, I want you to promise that you won't be mad at me when I tell you this okay? You have to promise!"

Tifa sighed a bit. "Fine, I promise I won't get mad at you for whatever you say Marlene. Now tell me."

Marlene took a deep breath as she began to tell Tifa about how she and Reno plotted from the very beginning to destroy her and Rude's relationship.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

* * *

Rude sighed annoyed, as he looked at himself in the mirror. Instead of his usual outfit, he was wearing a purple tank top, white pants, with a blush sash tied around his waist, he had purple wrists bands on each of his wrists and was wearing a pair of comfortable brown boots.. He sighed again as he scratched his head again. -I can't believe I'm wearing this.- On top of his head, was a messy blond wig, which was tied back into a pony tail. He shook his head at his appearance. -Is this _really_ what I look like with hair?- Tonight was the Halloween party at 7th Heaven, Tifa had given him the invitation before they broke up and she had made a comment that she would like to see him dress up for it. This was his last ditch effort to trying to win Tifa back, if this didn't work, he didn't know what else to do, but it just had to work!

* * *

Reno walked up to the apartment whistling a bit, as he spun his keys around his finger. Today was a good day for Reno, Tseng didn't bother him with any paperwork, Elena was too busy doing whatever it was Elena did and Rufus was busy examining the oil field's paperwork to give any missions. So he spent most of his day flirting with the cute new intern at the front desk. Of course, it would've been a better day if Rude had come to the office, then he would have gotten more than the interns number. With Rude by his side as a silent wingman, he had no problem getting any female he wanted. He had to admit that way deep, deep, _deep_ down Reno kinda felt bad for what he did to Rude and Tifa. Tifa wasn't that bad of a person, she had a lot of nice assets too. For some reason, which he couldn't understand why, Rude really liked Tifa, not just for her assets. Reno unlocked the door and walked in, looked at his roommate and began to laugh loudly. "Rude, what the hell happened to you?!" He asked as he clutched his sides.

Rude rolled his eyes as he looked at Reno's. reflection. "Shut up Reno." He muttered as he fixed his wig.

"That hair just looks bad on you man! You can't pull off the blond haired look!" He said, as he wiped away a tear from his eye.

"I pull it off better than your red haired look."

Reno gasped a bit. "That's low even for you partner! Besides, I was born with this red hair!"

Rude just raised an eyebrow at him in reply.

"So who are _you_ supposed to be and _why_ are you wearing it?"

"What does it matter to you?"

Reno rolled his eyes. "Cause you're going out somewhere! You've been a lump for weeks now! Now you're finally deciding you wanna go out! I gotta know what's going on!" He said eagerly.

Rude sighed again. "It's Halloween. There is a party at 7th Heaven."

"A party? Why did you tell me about this?!"

"Because I didn't want you go. This is too important for you to mess up Reno."

"So? It's a _party_! Sorry dude, but you wouldn't know a party if it jumped up and bit you on your butt. I _need_ to go along with you and show you how to act at a party."

"You can't go Reno."

"Well why not?" Reno asked whining.

"Two reasons. One, you don't have a costume. Two, this is my last shot to get Tifa back. If you go, you'll ruin _everything_."

Reno put his hand on Rude's shoulder. "Dude, I gotta be honest with you, ever since you broke up with Tifa, you've become a real bore."

Rude rolled his eyes. "Yeah and I wonder _whose_ fault that was? It couldn't have been _your_ fault." He said as sarcastically as he could.

Reno rolled his eyes back at him. "Anyway, so I was thinking, out of the goodness of my heart and because you are my bro, I've decided that I'm going to help get you and Tifa back together." He held up his hand, to stop Rude. "No, no. You don't need to thank me Rude. I'm doing this to help you to not be so boring!"

"That's your only reason?"

Reno just gave a lopsided grin. "That and I haven't been doing very well with the girls. I need my wingman back!"

Rude sighed, rubbing his forehead. "You still can't go Reno, you don't have a costume."

Reno thought for a few moments. "I got it! I got the perfect costume!" He then ran into his room leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Rude just rolled his eyes again, as he looked back at the mirror and continued to straighten his wig. -How do people with hair deal with this? It's so itchy!-

"Alright dude! I'm ready to go!"

Rude's mouth fell open as he looked at Reno's reflection. "Reno, why?"

Reno was standing there, in a purple uniform, his hair spiked up and holding what looked like a mishmash of items, wrapped in tin foil. "I figure with this costume, I can score all the babes!"

"Are you supposed to be...Cloud?"

"Yup." He nodded, placing his "Buster Sword" on his shoulder. "Course I don't have the blond hair, but honestly, blond hair doesn't look good on anyone.

"That 'costume' of yours is going to piss Tifa off." Rude said as he finally got his wig to lay perfectly straight.

"Psh. Yeah right, I bet my costume will get her to start dating me instead of you."

"200 gil says you're wrong."

"Oh ho! It's _on_ now partner! But don't be crying when your ex is with me by the end of the night!" Reno said laughing, walking out the door.

Rude just rolled his eyes under his sunglasses as he walked out of the apartment after Reno.

* * *

Tifa sighed as leaned against the bar, as she use Fira to light the final jack-o-lantern. She couldn't believe she was going through with this party. She wasn't really in the mood, but it was Halloween and 7th Heaven always had a party, so she had no excuse skip out of it. She usually went all out with her costumes, but this year, she was wearing white blouse, a orange jumpsuit, a white buckle on her thigh and red boots. She sighed as she began to make the punch, filling it with a different variety of liquors and juice. -Please life stream, just let me make it through this party with out an incident. And also please keep Marlene away from me!- She though bitterly as she placed the punch bowl on a table, next to a skeleton and a witch.

"Hey Tifa! This place looks great! " She heard a voice call out.

Tifa lifted her head and forced a smile on her face as her first guest arrived. She looked over at the guest and laughed. "Nice costume Reeve! You too Cait Sith!"

Reeve was wearing a black suit, with a red cape tied about his neck, holding a megaphone in his hand and a small crown on top of his head. "This costume wasn't my idea."

Cait Sith, on the other hand, was wearing a small blue suit with an orange tie and had all his fur smoothed back. He shook his head at Reeve. "Don' be blamin' me for this. I didna come up with this. Shouldn' you be talkin' like this insteada me?"

Reeve just shook his head. "We've discussed this Sith. I can't talk like you."

"Why no'? You do it _all_ th' time! It's no' _tha_ hard! In fac' you're talkin' like me righ' now."

"Sometimes I wonder why I gave you free will." Reeve said shaking his head as he helped himself to punch. He took a big swig of it and then look at Tifa seriously. "Tifa, I heard what happened between you and-"

Tifa shook her head. "Reeve, I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now. I'm going to have a good time tonight. I don't want to hear anything about anyone that I used to date. Otherwise, I _will_ kick you out. Understand?" She asked, giving him a hard look.

Reeve nodded. "Alright, but I still think that you need to hear both sides of the argument before you make any more decisions." He said as he turned and walked over to the bar and sat down in his usual seat, with Sith sitting in front of him.

* * *

Tifa sighed as she leaned against the bar, watching as the party was going full blast. She absentmindedly tapped her foot along with the song that was playing. The singer was singing about creatures creeping up behind someone. Cait Sith was leading the group of people in a dance. Tifa just smiled and shook her head a bit. -He's good at making me smile. It's a surprise that he works at ShinRa. There are some nice people that work at ShinRa. Unlike certain lying exes of mine.- Tifa shook her head again. -No Tifa. We're _not_ thinking about him! Tonight is a time to just relax and forget about everything.-

"Umm Tifa?" Marlene asked quietly, looking up at her. Marlene was wearing a long blue wig and a long white dress that showed some of her shoulders and neck. "The punch is getting low."

Tifa pretended like she didn't hear Marlene and walked over to the punch bowl and began to refill it.

Marlene winced a bit as Tifa ignored her, but she knew that she deserved it. She had to consider herself lucky that Tifa didn't throw her out of the house. Marlene sighed a bit as she went and stood behind the bar and began to refill some of the snacks.

* * *

"Alright partner, when we get inside the bar, just let me do all the talking, I'll have Tifa eating out of the palm of my hand before too long."

Rude just rolled his eyes at him. "No, you'll stay away from Tifa. There will be other girls for you to hit on, you _will_ leave her alone!"

"Oh come on Rude, you need to lighten up. Didn't I say that I was going to get you two back together?"

"For reasons that were purely selfish. Besides, I've learned not to trust a word that comes out of your mouth." Rude muttered as he adjusted his wig once again.

"Just stop bro, you're fighting a loosing battle with that wig. No matter what you do, it will never lay right. Now, time to get the ladies!" Reno said, as he switched his "Buster Blade" to his other shoulder and opened the door loudly. "Alright ladies! The hero of Gaia has arrived! Please make a mob in an orderly fashion!"

* * *

Tifa visibly flinched as she heard the door slam open. "Oh no." She whispered. "Not them." She quickly ducked behind the bar, pretending to be searching for something. -Come on Tifa, get a grip on yourself! What are you doing hiding like this? You're acting like such a child! So what if they are here? They are probably just meeting one of Reno's many admirers. They'll be here a few minutes and then leave. For now, just treat them like you would any customer.- She thought, shaking her head as she straightened back up and began to try and distract herself with cleaning the glasses.

* * *

"Hey there beautiful! How about a couple free drinks for the hero of Gaia?" Reno asked, grinning as he leaned up against the bar, giving her a lop sided grin.

Tifa rolled her eyes under her breath as she heard Reno come up to the bar. She took a few minutes longer cleaning the glass than she normally would have. -Just ignore him Tifa. He'll go away soon enough.-

"Come on Tifa, I know you can hear me. You can't just ignore me, I can get real annoying real quick!"

Tifa sighed, shaking her head. "Ain't that the truth?" She muttered as she walked over to him, as soon as she saw him, she stopped dead in her tracks. "R-Reno? What...the..._hell_?"

Reno smiled a bit at her again. "Hey Tifa, do you like the costume?"

"Are you supposed to be C-Cloud?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well yeah, it is a Halloween Party, and who better to dress as than the Hero of Gaia himself! Just think about all the babes I'm gonna get tonight!"

Tifa's left hand twitched a bit as she tried to resist the urge to smack him. -He would deserve it, but that probably wouldn't be the best thing to do. Although he _is_ part of the reason that I've been completely miserable, that might be just what I need to feel better. Maybe that should be part of the healing process? Of course it probably wouldn't be the best idea I've had. I'd have to clean up a huge mess and then it is Halloween, it wouldn't be good to have a riot break out.- Tifa sighed annoyed, shaking her head. "Just order your stupid drink and get to flirting with the girls."

"Oh come on Tifa. After all the hard work I went through to make this costume, I figure you could at least pretend to be nice to me."

"You spent what, all of 5 minutes getting that costume together? You don't even look like Cloud."

Reno just grinned as he leaned lazily against the bar. "It was 7 minutes thank you very much. It's really hard to make your hair look like the wrong side of a Chocobo."

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "You barely did anything to your hair. Don't even get me started on your...is that supposed to be Cloud's Buster Blade?"

"I know, it took a lot of hard work to even make this attempt, not everyone has hair that defies all laws of nature. As for my Buster Blade, I admit that it's not the best work I've ever done, but you know, I was rushed and all."

Tifa just shook her head as she handed him a beer. "Look, seeing as it's Halloween and all, we will have a temporary truce. However, after tomorrow, if I do see your smug face anywhere near me, I _will_ give you a beat down for what you and Marlene did to me. And that's _not_ an empty threat."

"Ah, so the brat told you everything huh? Damn and here I was hoping that I could finally convince you to sleep with me tonight."

"Not if you were the last man on Gaia." She said crossing her arms.

"Y'know, I think I've heard that saying before. Fine, what if I say, I'm acting for a friend? I think you'd really like this guy. He's sitting over there in the corner all by himself. You guys have a lot of common, you both prefer to fight with your fists. You both just got out of a bad relationship. I mean this poor guy had to give up his right to rule to his younger twin brother." Reno shook his head sadly. "Poor guy has had it rough lately. I figure a pretty girl like yourself could cheer him up."

"Reno, this "friend" of yours would just happen to be you would it?"

"Nah, it's not me! Just at least talk to the guy. I promise you won't be sorry, besides, he did tell me that you are the most beautiful woman in this bar." Reno looked up and down the bar before motioning for Tifa to lean closer. Then he placed his cupped hand beside his mouth and whispered, "Course I think he's just over exaggerating." He then quickly walked away from the bar and barely missed the mini jack-o-lantern that was flung at his head, causing it to hit a wall and explode.

* * *

Rude sighed a bit, looking down at the table. He saw the way Tifa reacted when they walked into the door. He shouldn't have let himself be talked into letting Reno of all people try and get them back together. If anything, that probably made the entire situation worse. He looked up at saw Reno walking back over to him, not really liking the way he was walking.

Reno shook his head annoyed as flung himself down on the seat. He then took a long sip from his beer, reaching in his pockets for something.

"So...what did she say?" Rude asked hesitantly.

"Man, I can't believe her. She's so mean sometimes. You know, I go up to her, being all charming and stuff, but she has to act all high and mighty. I swear Rude, I don't know _how_ you could've stood her." He said annoyed, still digging around in his pockets. "Geez. These SOLDIER outfits are not made for easy pocket access. We gotta talk to the President about this."

Rude's eyebrow twitched annoyed. "Reno, I swear if you did anything to hurt her-"

"Ah! Finally! Here 200 gil. She doesn't know what she's missing out." He said, finally pulling out the gil and throwing it in front of him.

Rude just blinked confused for a few moments, until he realized. "Reno, you went up to talk to her about her going out with you? Are you serious?! You said that you were going to talk to her about trying to get us back together and you tried to get her to go out with you?! I honestly don't know if I'm relieved or pissed."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. See, this is why I need my wingman back! If this was before you two broke up, I would've had no problem getting her to go out with me."

"If we were still dating, Tifa still wouldn't have gone at with you, seeing as how she was dating me. Idiot."

"Oh sure, call me an idiot. After all the hard work I had to do to even get her to try and talk to you. Which hopefully she should. Now go on big guy, go up there and talk to her!"

Rude nodded, then he stood up, but then immediately sat down, putting his hands on his head. "I can't do it."

"Are you kidding me man? I went up there and got her to consider talking to you and now you're chickening out? Who the hell are you and what have you done with Rude?"

Rude rolled his eyes again. "I'm right here Reno."

"You aren't the Rude I know! The Rude I know wouldn't be scared to go and do something! He wouldn't just sit here and feel too ashamed of himself to even do anything! The Rude I know is the most stubborn ass of a man alive and always fights for stuff that he believes in. I don't know who you are man, but you aren't the Rude I know. So when you find him, let me know alright?" He said, standing up and walking over to a group of girls and began to talk to them.

Rude sighed a bit, mulling over what Reno said. -Damn it. I hate to admit it, but Reno's right. I won't admit to him, he's got too much of a swelled head to begin with. Why am I just sitting here instead of going out and trying to get her back? Alright, it's time to man up Rude. We're going to get this sorted out tonight.-

* * *

"This a pretty nice party you've got going on Tifa."

Tifa looked for the voice and saw Elena standing up at the bar, giving her a smile. "Oh Elena! I didn't see you come up! How long have you been standing there? What can I get you to drink?"

Elena just shook her head and smiled again. "I just got here. I already helped myself to some of your punch." She said, holding up her cup.

Tifa looked her over a bit confused. "Umm, Elena, you do know that this is a _Halloween_ party right? Typically you dress up when you go to Halloween parties."

She nodded and took a drink of her punch. "I am dressed up."

"Elena, you're just wearing your old blue uniform. That's not dressed up."

Elena sighed a bit and pushed her bangs out of the way. "I am. I'm dressed up as Tseng!" There was a small red dot on her forehead.

"That's an...interesting costume you have Elena. Very..creative."

Elena smiled and nodded. "Mmhm. I figure one of these days he's bound to notice my existence! Then we'll get married and live happily ever after!"

Tifa laughed a bit. "Well good luck with that Elena. I know it's been a couple years, how did that dinner with Tseng go?"

Elena blushed a bit. "How did you hear about that?"

Tifa just gave her a smile. "I have my sources. So, spill. How did it go?"

Elena smiled again. "Well at first it went pretty good. We ate at a ShinRa only restaurant, it was a nice place. Tseng was a real gentleman."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here."

Elena nodded sadly. "I thought that it was going to be the start of a relationship between us. But then the next day, it was back to business as usual. I was the rookie, I was ignored again."

Tifa put a hand on her shoulder. "Well maybe you should find someone else to go after. Tseng has done nothing but ignore you most the time."

Elena shook her head. "No way! I'm not gonna give up on Tseng that easily! Besides, Rude got you! I'm sure that Tseng will be mine someday."

Tifa gave her a sad smile. "Your information is a bit outdated Rude isn't with me anymore. We broke up a few weeks ago."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Hey, I know this cute little coffee shop just outside of Midgar, maybe after this party is over, we can go and get some? Surprisingly there aren't a lot of female Turks, it's just nice to have a girl time with someone who isn't trying to kiss my butt."

Tifa smiled a bit. "Yeah, I could use some adult girl time myself. You know Elena, for a Suit, you aren't that bad."

"I know, for a Rebel, you aren't that bad either, Tifa. I'll meet you out front of the bar when you close!" Elena gave her a final smile and then walked away.

Tifa just smiled a bit, shaking her head as she began to wipe down the bar of spilled drinks.

* * *

Elena walked over to Rude and gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. "Don't worry Rude! I think I'm gonna be able to get Tifa to want to go out with you again!"

Rude sighed, throwing his hands in the air. "Why on Gaia does everyone have to get involved in my personal life? Next time I have something going on in my life, none of you are hearing _anything_ about it!"

"Oh come on Rude. Unlike Reno, I've actually done some good here! I promise you'll be thanking me when you guys are going back out."

"Yeah sure, we'll name our firstborn after you." Rude said sarcastically.

"Nah, you can just teach your child to call me Auntie Elena! Oh! You guys are going to have such cute babies! Can I baby-sit for you guys?" She asked eagerly, giving Rude the impression of a chipmunk on a sugar rush.

"Elena, calm down. Tifa and I are still broken up. I don't know if you and Reno have done anything to bring us back together." Rude sat back in the booth. "So just cut it out...with the family talk."

Elena blushed a bit nervously. "I-I'm sorry. I'm just so excited! I just know that you two are going to get back together! If you two get back together, that means maybe Tseng and I can get together!"

"You are really hung up on the Director, Elena. You need to find yourself a hobby."

"I do have a hobby. I have several of them." Elena said, crossing her arms annoyed.

Rude raised his eyebrow at her. "Such as?"

"Such as collecting old weapons from different areas. My collection of Wutain weapons is second to none. Most museums would kill for part of my collection."

"Huh. I wouldn't have expected that out of you. I pictured you doing something more feminine, like knitting or something."

"Psh. My mother tried to teach me and my sister that. She was the one who was good with all the feminine stuff. Course she liked to gloat all the time about how she would always get sweaters right the first time. Course I showed her by beating all of her scores at school."

"If I remember right, those scores were considered invalid because some of the guns were malfunctioning. Besides, your sister is one of the best marksmen ShinRa's ever had."

Elena glared at him, trying to burn him alive with her hatred. "What was that Rude?"

Rude gulped nervously. "O-of course you're the best Rookie that we've ever had! No one comes close to you!"

Elena nodded, content for now with his reply. "That's right and don't you forget it! Now I'm going to go and get some more punch and _you're_ going to go and talk to Tifa!" She said as she then walked away.

* * *

Rude slowly made his way through the crowd and to the bar. He sighed trying to figure out what he was going to say, with minimal success. All he could figure was he would just try and appeal to her memories of them. Remind her of the good times they had. He placed his hands on the bar and silently waited for her to notice him.

Tifa sighed a little, as she saw him approach the bar. She didn't want to have to talk with him, if she was being honest with herself, she hoped he would've left her alone. -But of course he wouldn't. Just suck it up Tifa. Maybe he'll go away in a few minutes, once he realizes that I don't want to talk to him.- Tifa just walked past him and ignored him as she helped the other customers.

Rude's eyebrow twitched a bit in annoyance. He knew what she was doing, she was avoiding him on purpose but in all honesty, he couldn't blame her. Besides, he was used to being ignored, he had all the patience in the world. He grinned to himself, knowing that sooner or later she'd come up at talk to him.

* * *

Tifa tried her hardest to ignore him, but that ridiculous wig just made her look at him. -I'm sure that was his goal all along.- She thought annoyed, putting the plates away with more relish than she normally would. -He just wants me to go over there. He'll probably try and tell me some more of his lies.- She paused for a moment.-But what about what Marlene said? What if Rude really didn't mean to do that? What if he _had_ no other choice?- Tifa mentally shook her head. -No! He still lied to me! He looked me in the eye and lied to me! That's absolutely unforgivable!- She quickly brushed away her tears and sighed, deciding to no longer ignore the elephant in the room.

Rude glanced down at his watch. -She's good. She's been ignoring me for 20 minutes. But I've got the upper hand here. I'm used to this, I can stand here and be silent all evening.- He took another sip of his punch and looked over in amusement as he saw her curiosity finally get the better of her and she started walking over to him. -22 minutes. That's a new record.-

"So you're the supposed 'Prince' that Reno wanted me to talk to. What on Gaia is that supposed to be on your head? You don't look like much of a Prince to me." Tifa said as she handed him one of his favorite brands of beer.

"Well we all can't look good with hair." He said taking the beer. -Well she's talking to me. That's a good sign.-

"Besides, I wouldn't picture you as a prince type. Princes are supposed to be trustworthy and honest. Which you aren't." Tifa said giving him a glare.

"Well I thought that a princess was supposed to be forgiving and listen when people are trying to explain things to them." Rude shot back, giving her a look of his own.

Tifa's hand twitched involuntarily as she poured another beer. "Well maybe if the Prince didn't _lie_ in the first place then the Princess wouldn't need to forgive him! Maybe if the Prince didn't work for the most evil company in the world where he had to lie to the person he cared about then none of this would've happened!"

"Well maybe if the Princess would've realized that the Prince loved her more than _anything_ in the world and would've rather _died_ than let anything happen to her! That he's always cared for her and hates himself for what he did to her!" He sighed and looked down at his beer. "And no matter what happens he's always going to love his Princess, even if she doesn't want anything to do with him."

Tifa's face turned a light pink as she handed another customer their drinks. "Yeah well maybe the Princess realized that it wasn't worth the cost of betraying those who mean a lot to her!" She said, trying to keep her temper in check.

Rude just shrugged noncommittally. "And maybe those friends are just being selfish. Maybe they don't want the Princess to be happy. Maybe they just want her to be with the Court Jester instead."

"What the hell does Reno have anything to do with this?!"

"I was referring to Chocobo Head, but if that makes you feel better, go ahead."

"Yeah well you're just jealous of him!"

Rude raised his eyebrow at her. "_I'm_ jealous of _him_?"

"Yeah, at least Chocobo Head didn't get totally wrecked by Sephiroth's remnants!"

"Last I checked he didn't even try to fight them until everything was said and done. Besides Reno and I _did_ do most of the work. We found the enemies base and all the missing kids. We also kept JENOVA out of their hands. In case you didn't notice, Loz and I were having an even fight."

"Yes and you did _such_ a good job keeping them busy." She said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"Better than Cloud. He could barely handle one of them. Besides, it gave us a chance to try out some new ShinRa tech."

"Reno must've made it then, cause they were able to come back and shoot Cloud, nearly killing him."

"It's only because I made the smallest miscalculation!" He said annoyed, crossing his arms.

Tifa tried to hide a giggle by turning her back for a moment. She had almost forgotten how much she enjoyed talking with Rude like this and how easy it was to tease him. "So ShinRa weapons are going to be much more flashy now?"

"The flashy thing is more for Reno's amusement than anything else. You know what he's like." He said as he took a sip of his beer as Tifa gave him a small nod in understanding. "He thought that the explosives needed a bit more…pizzazz. He thought we should go out with a huge bang. Course this will make stealthy missions a big hassle."

Tifa laughed a bit, shaking her head. She found herself slipping back into her old routine. Even after everything that happened, she still couldn't help but love him. She found herself wanting to reach over and take his hand, like they usually did when they were talking. It was breaking her heart to have to be so harsh to him, but part of her thought he deserved. Even with what Marlene told her, Rude still lied to her, that was the part she found most unforgivable, but she had to admit to herself that she missed him so much, that she still loved him so much. She found that her eyes were beginning to tear up and cause her vision to become blurry. It didn't help that the song in the bar changed to a song about a woman saying that she'll always love someone.

Rude saw that Tifa was starting to cry and put a hand on her face. "Tifa? What's the matter?" He asked concerned.

Tifa shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "It's so hard Rude! Sitting here, talking with you like this, like nothing happened! I just want to go back to what we had before! I hate feeling like this Rude!"

"Tifa, we can go back to what we had before." He said softly, trying to reassure her.

Tifa shook her head again. "How can we Rude? How can we just forget that this didn't happen? That you didn't try and use me for information? Please, don't try and say that you didn't Rude! The whole goal of your "mission" was to get me to fall in love with you and get information from me, but that's what hurts the most. I loved you so much Rude and I know that you cared for me too, but I just don't know if I can get past the fact of what you did."

Rude sighed a bit. "I know, but you have to understand, that I never meant to hurt you. All I wanted to do was just to protect you."

"Yeah, you did a really good job protecting me. Maybe you should've protected me from yourself! Then none of this never would've happened!" Tifa said, her voice cracking a bit.

Rude sighed a bit. -Maybe it's just hopeless. Maybe we can't go back to what we had.- He shook his head to try and clear him mind. "Tifa, I may have done a lot of horrible things as Turk, but the one thing that I will never ever regret is loving you. You are the best thing that happened to me, while my actions were regrettable, I only did them because I cared about you. All I wanted was just to be with you Tifa. I know you may never understand my actions, but I still love you. If you don't believe anything, just believe that. Loving you was never a lie."

Tifa could barely hold back her tears and she whispered. "I still love you too Rude, but I can't deal with this right now. Please, leave me alone."

"Just promise me that you'll remember that Tifa, whatever I did, it was out of love for you. Promise me when you are feeling better we can talk about what happened." He said, putting his hand on her face and tenderly wiping away one of her tears.

Tifa gave him a small nod. "I guess I can try. But that's all I can promise is that I'll try Rude. Please, enjoy the rest of the party."

Rude gave her a small smile and a nod, then took her hand and gave it a kiss, just like he did before and then turned and walked out of the bar. It was hard for him to keep his emotions and his tears at bay as he went back to his table and sat down.

Tifa walked into the small pantry behind the bar and leaned against the wall, covering her mouth with her hand as she began to cry even harder.

* * *

Quick Note from GamingMistress: Just in case you couldn't figure out who some of the characters were dressed up as, here is a list for you!

Rude= Sabin Rene Figaro from Final Fantasy VI (I partly did this just because picturing Rude with hair is kind of funny!)  
Tifa= Dagger, Garnet Til Alexandros XVI (also a Sarah. lol) from Final Fantasy IX  
Marlene= Princess Sara, from the original Final Fantasy  
Reno= Cloud (obviously)  
Cait Sith= Reeve  
Reeve= Cait Sith


End file.
